Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will conduct a modelling exercise to determine how much the NHS should spend on the health elements of children’s palliative care.

I have tasked officials to look at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10 Year Health Plan.

The Government and the National Health Service will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that the future state of services reduces variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.

There are currently no plans at a national level to run a modelling exercise to determine how much the NHS should spend on the health elements of children’s palliative care.