Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the increased (1) cost of living, and (2) cost of energy, on hospices in England.

No assessment has been made. Palliative and end of life care, including hospice care, is commissioned locally by integrated care boards (ICBs) in response to the needs of its local population. Any assessment would therefore be made at a local level.

At a national level, NHS England have released £1.5 billion additional funding to ICBs to provide support for inflation, with ICBs deciding how best to distribute this funding within its system. This is in addition to the support provided by Government through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and the new Energy Bill Discount Scheme which will run from April 2023 until March 2024 and continue to provide a discount to eligible non-domestic customers, including hospices.