Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure national accountability for equitable provision of palliative care across England.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

This is further clarified in the recently published Strategic Commissioning Framework and the Medium Term Planning Guidance, which makes clear the expectation that integrated care boards should understand current and projected service utilisation and costs, creating an overall plan to more effectively meet these needs through neighbourhood health.