Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much NHS England has spent on palliative care in each financial year since 2012-13.

Much of the palliative care patients receive will be provided either in outpatient or community settings, by nurses, community teams or general practitioners as part of general NHS services provision, rather than as an identified palliative care service. In such services, data are either not available or do not identify palliative treatment. In addition, social and voluntary sector organisations can provide additional support to patients and the end of life. Therefore, figures for the total cost of palliative care service for children nationally, or across boroughs, is not available.