Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to share examples of best practice in commissioning children's palliative care with integrated care boards across England.

NHS England has published statutory guidance on palliative and end of life care and a service specification for children and young people. This sets out the expectations and responsibilities placed on integrated care boards (ICBs) in relation to the commissioning of children’s palliative care.

The NHS Futures platform offers ICB commissioners the opportunity to share examples of best practice amongst each other and with healthcare professionals and researchers. The NHS Futures platform also offers access to upcoming and past webinars and a clinical excellence workstream, among other resources, to support ICB commissioners and clinical staff to support outstanding clinical care based on the best available evidence.

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 the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality.