Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of palliative care services for people in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency and (b) Staffordshire since Rt hon. and hon. Members last considered the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

Irrespective of whether the law changes on assisted dying, we must continue to work towards creating a society where every person who needs it receives high-quality, compassionate palliative care and end of life care.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB), including Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative care and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

We are committed to shifting more healthcare into the community so that patients and their families receive high-quality, personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and palliative care and end of life care services will have a big role to play in that shift.

The Government and the National Health Service will closely monitor the shift towards strategic commissioning of palliative and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.