Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for children’s palliative care services in Bradford West; and what steps the Modern Service Framework for palliative and end of life care is taking to address funding challenges faced by the sector.

The Government recognises the vital role that children’s palliative care services play in supporting children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their families, including in Bradford West.

Integrated care boards (ICBs), including the NHS West Yorkshire ICB, are responsible for assessing and commissioning palliative care and end of life care services that meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications. The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment.

Although commissioning decisions are made locally, we continue to support the children’s hospice sector nationally. We are providing £26 million revenue funding to children and young people’s hospices in 2025/26, of which children and young people’s hospices in Bradford West are receiving £1,727,000.

We are also pleased to confirm the continuation of this funding, with approximately £80 million, adjusted for inflation, to be allocated over the next three financial years to children and young people’s hospices, giving them greater stability to plan ahead and focus on delivering high-quality, personalised care.

In addition, eligible hospices are benefitting from the Government’s £125 million capital investment to improve care environments for both adult and children’s hospices across England, of which children and young people’s hospices in Bradford West are receiving £1,278,935.

The Government is also developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England, planned for publication later this year. The MSF will support ICBs, including the NHS West Yorkshire ICB, to commission palliative care and end of life care more strategically by addressing the drivers of variation in access, quality and sustainability. It will help move the sector away from grant and block contract model towards clearer, more sustainable commissioning arrangements, enabling services, including those that support children, to plan with greater certainty.