Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of standardising funding for hospices.

While the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we also recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in providing support to people at the end of life, and their loved ones. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding hospices receive is dependent on many factors, including what other statutory services are available within the integrated care board footprint.