Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the (a) capacity and (b) level of staffing in the hospice sector; how hospices are supporting the families of terminally-ill patients due to social distancing guidance; and what steps he is taking to ensure that hospices continue to benefit from community fundraising activities during the outbreak.

The Department holds regular discussions with representatives of the hospice sector about how they are coping during the COVID-19 outbreak, including capacity and staffing issues. On 8 April 2020 the Chancellor announced up to £200 million in funding for hospices, as part of a wider package of £750million for the wider voluntary and charity sector to support hospices in increasing the capacity of NHS services. To deliver this NHS England and NHS Improvement use a national tracker, which reports capacity and staffing levels for the hospice sector, to monitor the effect of COVID-19 on the healthcare system.

Hospices provide high quality support to the families of terminally-ill patients and will continue to do so in alignment with the safety aspects that inform the guidance on social distancing. For example, many are offering online and telephone support to families during this time.

The Department recognises that social distancing rules are impacting community fundraising, including events and the activities of charity shops. To help hospices continue to be financially viable during the pandemic, they are eligible for a range of measures which apply to charities such as having the option to defer their VAT bills to the end of June, paying no business rates for their shops next year and applying for a Business Interruption Loan. Many charity shops are already eligible for 80% charitable rate relief and will benefit from the new enhanced retail rate relief at 100%.