Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had recent discussions with Marie Curie on funding for the hospice sector.

Last year, I met key palliative care and end-of-life care stakeholders, including Marie Curie, in a roundtable format with a focus on long-term sector sustainability within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England, and we will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of this work. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting integrated care boards to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.

Officials are working closely with Marie Curie and a number of other stakeholders from the hospice sector in the development of the MSF.