Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has considered fully funding specialist palliative care, advice and assessment provided by hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and enable ICBs to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan. Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality.
The recently published Strategic Commissioning Framework and Medium-Term Planning Guidance also make clear the expectations that ICBs should understand current and projected total service utilisation and costs for those at the end of life, creating an overall plan to more effectively meet these needs through neighbourhood health.
Hospices provide both core and specialist palliative care. Whilst acknowledging that not everyone will need specialist palliative care, we must ensure is that there is equitable and timely access to these services, whether they are provided by hospices or the National Health Service.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to ensure the provision of children's hospice services in London in the light of the planned closure of Richard House on 18 December; and what plans they have to prevent that closure.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst the majority of palliative care and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including children’s hospices, also play in providing support to seriously children at end of life and their loved ones.
I recognise that the closure of Richard House Children’s Hospice will be a worrying time for the parents, carers, and children who use the services at Richard House, as well as for the staff and volunteers.
I am heartened to hear that Haven House Children’s Hospice will be welcoming children and families currently supported by Richard House Children’s Hospice, with support from the North East London Integrated Care Board.
More widely, we have been 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. This amounts to approximately £2.8 million for children’s hospices in London.
Furthermore, children and young people’s hospices have received £26 million in revenue funding for 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £5.65 million for children’s hospices in London. I am delighted that earlier this autumn we were able to confirm the continuation of this funding for children and young people’s hospices for the next three financial years. This amounts to approximately £80 million over that period.
We also recently announced that the Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in our 10-Year Health Plan.
We want to consider, as part of the MSF, contracting and commissioning arrangements, in line with our shift to strategic commissioning. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.
I refer the noble Baroness to the Written Ministerial Statement HLWS1086, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Board on the (a) public petition and (b) campaign to safeguard Arthur Rank Hospice.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers meet and engage regularly with integrated care boards (ICBs) to discuss local issues.
Representatives of NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB meet Arthur Rank Hospice on a regular basis relating to the services it commissions from the organisation. The ICB and Arthur Rank Hospice work collaboratively to ensure that commissioned services meet contractual expectations and on continuous improvement of services for palliative care and end of life care patients.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
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 ensure that hospices receive the funding required to raise staff pay in line with nationally agreed NHS pay rises.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Hospices, as independent organisations, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment and, therefore, it is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate and how to recoup any additional costs they face, including what contractual arrangements are reached with their commissioners.
NHS England uprates national allocations in line with the pay rises for integrated care boards (ICBs). It is down to the local contractual arrangements, and whether this includes the increases for pay rises or not, as to what the hospice can afford. There is, therefore, no single model which is consistent across England.
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 £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.
A number of MPs wrote to me in relation to Hospice UK’s four-point plan for hospice funding. I have responded to this letter.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and enable ICBs to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding provisions are being put in place for hospice care, in the context of rising costs of living and changing needs of the staff.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (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 understand the financial pressures faced by the hospice sector which is why we are supporting eligible adult, and children and young people’s hospices in England with a £100 million capital funding boost to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
Additionally, we are also providing £26 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26 and have also recently confirmed the continuation of this vital funding of at least £26 million, as it will be adjusted for inflation, each year from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.
On hospice staff-related costs specifically, independent organisations, such as charities and social enterprises, are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment, including pay scales. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate.
In the long term, through our Modern Service Framework (MSF), we hope that, by supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. This would be more sustainable and help hospices plan ahead.
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House.
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, whether the Department plans to review the level of statutory funding provided to hospices that currently rely heavily on charitable donations to deliver core services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing National Health Services. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between integrated care board (ICB) areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative care and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.
In addition to the statutory funding provided by ICBs, the Government has been 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 recently also confirmed the continuation of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices for the next three financial years. This amounts to approximately £80 million over that period.
For the long-term, we are developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. We will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of our MSF. 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.
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 (a) palliative and (b) end of life care for patients in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. I refer the hon. member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families, including those in Yeovil, receive at the end of life and will enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care.
The recently published Strategic Commissioning Framework and Medium-Term Planning Guidance also make clear the expectations that integrated care boards should understand current and projected total service utilisation and costs for those at the end of life, creating an overall plan to more effectively meet these needs through neighbourhood health.
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. St Margaret’s Hospice Care, which serves patients in the Yeovil constituency, is receiving £816,184 from this funding.
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 he has made of the potential impact of the Hospice at Home programme delivered by hospices such as Dr Kershaw’s in Oldham on patients.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Charitable hospices are independent, autonomous organisations that provide a wide range of services, many of which go beyond what statutory services are legally required to be delivered. Therefore, the Government does not collect or assess data on these 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, delivered both in inpatient units and in people’s homes, available within the ICB catchment.
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 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms his department uses to ensure integrated care boards commission children’s palliative care services effectively and in accordance with national quality standards.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member for Leicester South and the Rt. Hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
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 providing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
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 potential merits of modelling how much integrated care boards should spend on the health elements of children's palliative care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member for Leicester South and the Rt. Hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
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 providing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.