Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will issue national guidance to reduce variation in children’s hospice funding between ICBs.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care and end-of-life care services, including children and young people’s hospice services, to meet the needs of their local populations. NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications to support ICBs in carrying out these duties. We will be refreshing the statutory guidance and service specifications later this year.
The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between ICB areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.
We have supported the hospice sector in England with a £125 million capital funding boost for adult and children and young people’s hospices to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. We are also providing approximately £80 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices over three financial years, 2026/27 to 2028/29, giving them the stability they need to plan ahead.
The Government is developing a Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care in England, and we have recently published an interim update at the following link:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-06-04/hcws88
The MSF will embed palliative care and end-of-life care within a strategic commissioning model that is centred on clear and transparent contractual arrangements for commissioned palliative care activity across all providers, including hospices, to meet population health needs, with explicit regard to reducing inequalities and improving outcomes for underserved and disadvantaged groups. We expect all ICBs to complete an integrated needs assessment, to gain a detailed understanding of their current and future population, including people of all ages with palliative care and end-of-life care needs. This is vital in order to commission the services to best meet that need, whilst providing the best value for money.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for Education to ensure the Armed Forces Covenant is applied in the provision of education to SEND pupils who are children of service men and women.
Answered by Calvin Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)
The Ministry of Defence has been working closely with the Department for Education (DfE) to ensure that mobile Armed Forces Service children with complex needs can access the education that they require with the appropriate level of support.
One of the key areas of focus is ensuring that the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities reforms reflect Armed Forces Covenant duties, including in regulations and the revised Code of Practice, so that national and local practice mitigates any disadvantage arising from Service life.
My predecessor and the Minister for School Standards met with the Armed Forces Community All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to hear from the community and Armed Forces families’ federations to hear from the Community on the proposals for SEND reform. Minister Gould and I have agreed that we will meet with the APPG again to continue this work.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 1 June 2026 to question 3164, if he will publish (a) those performance indicators and (b) corresponding performance data.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the Child Maintenance Service’s (CMS) performance indicators is published where appropriate through official statistics and departmental publications: Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to March 2026 - GOV.UK.