Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies of the UK Commission on Bereavement’s findings that over 40 percent of adult respondents who wanted formal bereavement support did not receive any.

The Government has established a cross-Government bereavement working group and is committed to working with the voluntary sector, including the UK Commission on Bereavement, to assess how further support can be provided to those who have been bereaved. We are also working with the National Institute of Health and Care Research on research into the barriers that prevent minority ethnicity groups from accessing bereavement services. We expect the findings of this research in 2024.

In addition, NHS England have developed statutory guidance to support integrated care boards in their duty to commission palliative care services within integrated care systems which states that commissioners should ensure there is sufficient access to bereavement services.