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 increasing funding for the specialist (a) care, (b) advice and (c) 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 for England, due to be published in Spring 2026. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

Additionally, 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 Michael’s Hospice in Hereford is receiving £667,020 from this funding. We are also committing £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.

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 that hospice contracts reflect the (a) cost of the services they provide and (b) needs of their local populations.

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 for England, due to be published in Spring 2026. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

Additionally, 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 Michael’s Hospice in Hereford is receiving £667,020 from this funding. We are also committing £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.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of funding provided to nurseries to deliver the extended free childcare hours without financial shortfall.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, improving the life chances for every child and the work choices for every parent.

In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department has provided over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, increasing to over £9 billion in 2026/27.

The department has announced the largest ever increase to early years pupil premium since its introduction and have delivered a significant tranche of supplementary funding of £75 million through the early years expansion grant.

The department wants to ensure the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver the entitlements and high quality early years provision going forward.

Found: Q16 James Naish: When you say “they”, where is the drive coming from?

Found: Q16 James Naish: When you say “they”, where is the drive coming from?