Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has considered introducing multi-year NHS funding for the health elements of children's palliative care.

Palliative care services, including for children, are included in the list of services that integrated care boards (ICBs) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. ICBs are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

The Department and NHS England are looking at how to improve the access, quality and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10 Year Health Plan. The Government and the National Health Service will closely monitor the shift towards strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that the future state of services reduce variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.