Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing funding for palliative care services in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission, including the NHS Lincolnshire ICB, which covers the South Holland and The Deepings constituency. 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.

The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of palliative care and end of life care services to meet the needs of their local populations, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.

We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. I am pleased to confirm the continuation of circa £26 million, adjusted for inflation, for the next three financial years, 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive, to be distributed again via ICBs. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

More widely, the Department and NHS England are currently 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.