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 impact that increased energy and other costs are having on hospices and end of life care provision; and what plans he has to support hospices beyond the end of the Government’s Energy Bill Discount Scheme.

Although no assessment has been made specifically in regard to hospices, following a Treasury-led review, the new Energy Bill Discount Scheme, which will run from April 2023 until March 2024, will continue to provide a discount to eligible non-domestic customers, including the health and care sector.

At a national level, NHS England has released £1.5 billion in additional funding to integrated care boards (ICBs) to provide support for inflation, with ICBs deciding how best to distribute this funding within their system, including to palliative and end of life care providers such as hospices.

Palliative and end of life care, including hospice care, is commissioned locally by ICBs in response to the needs of their local population. Any assessment would therefore be made at a local level.