Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of commissioning for palliative care by integrated care boards; and if he will make further such assessments in future.

No specific assessment has been made and there are no current plans to make one.

As part of the Health and Care Act 2022, palliative care services were specifically added to the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission, with NHS England publishing statutory guidance to support commissioners with this duty. The guidance sets out the core components for commissioning and provides a framework for each ICB to evaluate commissioning and delivery of their palliative and end of life care services.