Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to (a) continue to provide financial support for children's hospices and (b) increase the level of funding in line with (i) inflation and (ii) rises in costs.

NHS England has provided £26 million in revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26, through what was, until recently, known as the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant. This was an increase in funding from £25 million in 2024/25.

Integrated care boards will once again administer the funding to their respective children and young people’s hospices on behalf of NHS England. The majority of children and young people’s hospices should now have received their allocations, with the remaining few receiving theirs in the coming weeks.

We cannot yet confirm what the funding for 2026/27 will be, or how it will be administered.

In February, I met with key palliative care and end of life care and hospice stakeholders, including Together for Short Lives, in a roundtable format with a focus on long-term sector sustainability within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.