Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make it her policy to end the funding of hospices through integrated care boards.

I commend my Rt Hon. Friend’s tireless advocacy for high-quality end-of-life care, through his work on the APPG for Dying Well.

I understand his concerns about potential variation in provision. However, the Health and Care Act 2022 included a legal duty for integrated care boards to commission palliative and end of life care, in line with wider NHS devolution.

Integrated care boards are best positioned to understand and meet the needs of their local population, and commission appropriate end-of-life services, including from the NHS and voluntary sector organisations, such as hospices.