Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent changes there have been in funding for hospice services in (a) England, (b) the South East region and (c) Sussex.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In December 2024, we announced that we were providing £100 million of capital funding for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England. I am pleased to say that we can now confirm we are providing a further £25 million in capital funding for hospices to spend in 2025/26. From this additional £25 million of capital funding, hospices in the South East region will receive over £5 million. The Southern Hospice Group in Sussex, which is formed of St Barnabas House, Chestnut House, and Martlets, will receive £500,000. Sussex Beacon in Brighton will receive £88,920.
We also recently announced that we are providing approximately £80 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices in England over the next three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients. Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice in Sussex and a number of other children’s hospices in the wider South East region, including Demelza Children’s Hospice, Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice, Naomi House and Jacksplace Hospice, Helen and Douglas House, and Ellenor Hospice will all benefit from this funding.
The Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB) is taking steps to support the long-term sustainability of hospices in its area. This includes 10-year grant agreements for adult hospices, providing financial certainty and strengthening their ability to maintain services during a period of rising demand.
The ICB is also funding a Sussex Hospice Alliance Programme Director to support collective planning, clinical integration, and workforce development. The ICB currently spends £13.3 million a year with hospices.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. As part of the MSF, we will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
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 improve dental services in a) Gloucester and b) Gloucestershire.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Gloucester constituency, this is the Gloucestershire ICB.
We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent dental needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available since April 2025.
ICBs are recruiting dentists through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
We are committed to delivering fundamental reform of the dental contract before the end of this Parliament. As a first step, on 16 December we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on quality and payment reforms to the NHS dental contract. The changes will be introduced from April 2026. These reforms will put patients with greatest need first, incentivising urgent care and complex treatments. Further information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to secure a new NHS dental contract.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to delivering fundamental reform of the dental contract before the end of this Parliament. As a first step, we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on shorter term improvements to the National Health Service dental contract on 16 December 2025. The changes will be introduced from April 2026. These reforms will put patients with the greatest needs first while incentivising urgent care and complex treatments. Further information is available at the following link:
We are continuing to work with the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector, including through Ministerial meetings, to deliver our shared ambition to improve access to treatments for NHS dental patients.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
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 impact of higher rates of missed GP appointments in deprived areas on practices’ ability to deliver QOF requirements.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the 2024 to 2025 contract year, 83.2% of practices achieved over 90% of the available Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) points. General practices (GPs) servicing populations in areas of higher deprivation face greater levels of unmet need and barriers to patient engagement, which can affect delivery against contractual frameworks, such as QOF.
The indicators and thresholds included in the QOF are developed in accordance with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines and are underpinned by a robust evidence base. Thresholds are designed to be attainable, reflecting the potential challenges involved with delivering the intended outcomes for certain interventions or care practices, while encouraging and incentivising practices to provide the best possible care. Thresholds are aspirational rather than a contractual obligation.
We recognise the importance of ensuring funding for core services is distributed equitably between practices across the country. This is why we are currently reviewing the way GP funding is allocated across England (the Carr-Hill formula). The review will look at how health needs are reflected in the distribution of funding through the GP Contract.
To ensure that patients are not digitally excluded, the GP Contract is clear that patients should always have the option of telephoning or visiting their practice in person, and all online tools must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, other channels for accessing a GP. Practice receptions should be open so that patients without access to telephone or online services are in no way disadvantaged.
In 2025, NHS England published an improvement framework for community language, translation, and interpreting services to support the provision of consistent, high-quality community language translation and interpreting services by the National Health Service to people with limited English proficiency. In primary care, the framework supplements the existing guidance for commissioners on interpreting and translation services.
NHS England’s statement on information on health inequalities sets out details on the recording of housing status. This can enable a better understanding of how social risk factors such as insecure housing or homelessness affects health outcomes and health inequalities. The statement is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-englands-statement-on-information-on-health-inequalities/
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of public service response to support for missing from home dementia patients.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tackling this issue requires a multi-agency response and co-ordination across a range of policies and operational partners including the health care sector, local authorities and the police.
The provision of specific dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
Many police forces are now participating in the Herbert Protocol, with partner agencies, to assist in locating missing vulnerable people living with dementia. The Herbert Protocol is a national scheme by police forces in partnership with other agencies which encourages carers to compile useful information which could be used in the event of a vulnerable person, living with dementia, going missing. Carers, family members and friends can complete in advance, a form recording vital details, such as medication required, mobile numbers, places previously located, a photograph etc. In the event of a person going missing this information can then easily be provided to the police to assist them in searching for the person, saving valuable time.
The Government is harnessing digital technology to transform adult social care, helping people to stay independent in their homes, joining up services and improving the quality of care provided.
In January, ministers announced immediate steps the Department is taking to improve adult social care. These reforms build upon progress over the last four years to drive adoption of digital social care records by registered care providers to 80%, from a start point of 41% in December 2021, and to test, scale and evaluate innovative care technologies.
In the next year, the Government will set new national standards for care technologies and produce trusted guidance, so that people can confidently buy and use technology which supports them or the people they care for.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of hospice funding for dementia end-of-life care is provided by central government and local authorities; and whether he plans to increase statutory funding for hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not had any recent discussions with local authorities about the funding of hospice services.
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. 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 care services to meet the needs of their local populations, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment.
Local authorities don't have direct responsibility for end of life care. However, statutory guidance encourages local authorities to prioritise integration activity in areas where there is evidence that effective integration of services materially improves people’s wellbeing, for example, end of life care.
As the majority of hospices are independent charitable organisations, neither the Government nor NHS England collect data on their financial accounts. As such, we do not hold data on the proportion of the total income that hospices receive that is provided by central Government.
In December 2024, we announced a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England. We are pleased to say that this capital funding has just been increased by a further £25 million.
The Government will consider contracting and commissioning as part of developing the forthcoming Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support general practices serving populations with higher levels of multimorbidity and patient complexity to meet QOF indicators.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), clinical indicators all have a target population. Patients with co-morbidities are included in all relevant target populations and registers where they meet the defined criteria. These patients are eligible for the interventions outlined in all relevant disease areas and as such, practices are reimbursed for these interventions.
The indicators and thresholds included in the QOF are developed in accordance with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, underpinned by a robust evidence base.
We recognise the importance of ensuring funding for core services is distributed equitably between practices across the country. This is why we are currently reviewing the way general practice funding is allocated across England (the Carr-Hill formula). The review will look at how health needs are reflected in the distribution of funding through the GP Contract.
Over the past 16 months, the Government has invested an extra £1.1 billion into primary care, prevented over 3,000 GPs from graduating into unemployment, and have halved the number of targets GPs are held to so GPs spend more time caring for patients. Over 6.5 million more GP appointments have been delivered in the 12 months to November 2025 compared to the same period last year, building capacity for continuity of care and improving access so that patients can be seen when they need to be in primary care.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to reform the general practice funding model.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the importance of ensuring that the funding for core general practice (GP) services is distributed equitably between practices across the country. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced on 25 June that, through the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government will review the GP funding formula, the Carr-Hill formula, with the aim of ensuring that resources are targeted where they are most needed.
In November, I wrote to MPs to inform them of the details of the review.
The review is being conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the commencement of the review was announced on 9 October. Recommendations are expected in March 2026. The review will draw on a range of evidence and advice from experts, with a focus on how health need is reflected in funding. Ministers will then decide whether to proceed with the technical development and testing of a new formula, and any other changes motivated by the review.
Implementation of any new funding approach will be subject to ministerial decision, in the context of the available funding and our commitment to substantively reform the General Medical Services Contract within this Parliament.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding he has allocated to support affordable housing delivery in a) Eastbourne and b) East Sussex.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 58440 on 17 June, the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July (HCWS771), and the Social and Affordable Homes Programme policy statement published on 7 November which can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much financial support his Department has provided for supported accommodation in a) Eastbourne and b) East Sussex in each year since 2015.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 introduced a duty for all local housing authorities in England to formulate and publish local supported housing strategies. The government will provide new burdens funding and publish guidance shortly, setting out how local authorities should undertake an analysis of existing supported housing provision, current unmet need and future need.
Young people need the right support alongside housing to improve health, wellbeing and access employment, enabling them to access and retain housing and reducing their risk of homelessness and rough sleeping. Funding for housing support services is primarily through the Local Government Finance Settlement and commissioning of services is for local authorities to determine.
We have confirmed a new 10-year £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme to kickstart social and affordable housebuilding at scale across the country. We want to see new supply of supported housing in England through the new programme, in greater numbers and also across a diverse range of cohorts and housing types, including for vulnerable young people.