Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support the devolved Administrations to (a) increase the children’s palliative care workforce and (b) improve access to specialist services.

Healthcare funding and administration, including in relation to palliative and end of life care services, is a devolved matter across the four nations of the United Kingdom, and, therefore, is the responsibility of the devolved administrations.

In England, we have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, and a central part of the plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients, including children with palliative and end of life care needs, across our communities. This summer, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again. We will ensure the NHS in England has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when and where they need it, including for children with palliative and end of life care needs.

In England, palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. ICBs are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, including specialist services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification for children and young people.

We are also providing £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices in England for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the children and young people’s hospice grant.