Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2019 to Question 235379 on Hospices: Children, what the value will be of the NHS England Children’s Hospice Grant will be in 2019-20; and if he will make it his policy to maintain the level of that grant throughout the lifespan of the NHS Long Term Plan.

The Children’s Hospice Grant will provide a contribution of £12 million to the sector in 2019/20, an increase of £1 million from the £11 million grant fund in 2018/19.

As set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England committed to increase its contribution to children’s palliative care over the next five years by match funding clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) who commit to increase their investment in local children’s palliative and end of life care services including children’s hospices.

Subject to CCGs’ increasing investment, NHS England will match this by up to £7 million a year by 2023/24. This increase is in addition to the Children’s Hospice Grant.

NHS England is currently establishing financial reporting systems to monitor the baseline investment of CCGs in children’s palliative and end of life care services. This will enable match funding payments to be made to CCGs where the investments are increased above the investment baseline in the previous year.

We would expect hospices to be significant beneficiaries of the additional funding NHS England has committed to over the next five years. In many areas, children’s hospices are the main providers of children’s palliative and end of life care services. However, this new investment may also provide for: community services; short break (respite) services; and out of hours support for children with palliative care needs, which we know is hugely valued by children and their families and carers.