Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to reduce the variation in integrated care board (ICB) funding for children's hospices; and if he will commit to holding ICBs to account for the way in which they (a) commission children's palliative care and (b) comply with their legal duties in this area.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. ICBs are responsible for the commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing National Health Service services. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between ICB areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative care and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure that they have the best physical environment for care.

We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next spending review period, 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see circa £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

The Department and NHS England are currently looking 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.

We will closely monitor the shift towards strategic commissioning of palliative and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.

On ICB accountability, NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each ICB in respect of each financial year and publish a summary of its findings. This assessment must assess how well the ICB has discharged its functions.