Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to support hospices in the Braintree constituency.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB), including the NHS Mid and South Essex ICB, must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

The Government recognises the financial pressures facing hospices. In February, NHS England wrote to all ICBs requesting an update on the financial stability of hospices in their footprint as a matter of urgency, and the steps being taken to mitigate risks.

We also supported the hospice sector in England with a £125 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. From this funding stream, Farleigh Hospice in mid-Essex received £1,350,650 and Havens Hospices, which Little Havens Children’s Hospice is part of, received £1,287,240.

Furthermore, children and young people’s hospices received £26 million in revenue funding in 2025/26. This was a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the Children’s Hospice Grant. From this funding, Little Havens Children’s Hospice received £557,000.

In 2025/26, we announced the continuation of this funding for a further three financial years. This funding will see at least £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, covering 2026/27 to 2028/29, amounting to approximately £80 million over the three-year period.

Children and young people’s hospices and ICBs have recently been informed of their allocations for 2026/27, although we are not yet in a position to share those individual allocations publicly. Communication regarding future allocations, for 2027/28 and 2028/29, will be sent once the 2026/27 process is complete.

For the long-term, the Government is developing a Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care for England, with a planned publication date of autumn 2026. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. As part of the development of the MSF, we will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements. 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.