Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how does he intend to address the revenue shortfall in palliative care.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.

Whilst the majority of palliative care and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, the Government has confirmed multi-year revenue support for children and young people’s hospices, totalling £26 million in 2025/26 and approximately £80 million across the three years 2026/27 to 2028/29, adjusted for inflation, which will, once again, be allocated via ICBs on behalf of NHS England, providing greater certainty for planning.

We are developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England later this year. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and will enable ICBs to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan.

Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality.

The recently published Medium-Term Planning Framework also states that, from April 2026, ICBs and relevant NHS providers should ensure an understanding of current and projected total service utilisation and costs for those at the end of life.