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 vulnerable families can access children’s hospice services in the long-term.

To compensate for the lower levels of statutory funding children’s hospices receive, NHS England provided £11 million in 2018/19 through the Children’s Hospice Grant, which is awarded and administered annually.

On 1 July 2019, NHS England announced that it would increase its funding of children’s hospices to £25 million by 2023/24. This replaces the previous commitment to additional funding which required clinical commissioning groups (CCG) match funding. Instead NHS England has now guaranteed the additional investment for hospices.

NHS England has also committed that where palliative care is provided by means other than through hospices, it will run a needs assessment to understand whether additional investment is required nationally or from CCGs.

Levels of National Health Service-funded hospice care provision are determined locally by CCGs, which are responsible for ensuring healthcare services are commissioned to meet the needs of local populations. In partnership with other local service providers, such as local authorities, NHS commissioners should identify any gaps in the provision of local services and put in place service-development plans to address identified needs.