Correspondence Mar. 28 2024
Committee: Health, Social Care and Sport CommitteeFound: Webber MSP, Convener, Education, Children and Young People Committee Kenneth Gibson MSP, Convener, Finance
Mar. 26 2024
Source Page: Whole of Government Accounts, 2021-22Found: teams and also with Finance Directors thro ugh the Government Finance Function’s Finance 20 Leadership
Mar. 25 2024
Source Page: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts: December 2023Found: Business Programme Launch - DubaiClimate / Environment / Economy2023-12-04 00:00:00Speech Global Ethical Finance
Mentions:
1: Penny Mordaunt (Con - Portsmouth North) Lords message to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, followed by Second Reading of the Finance - Speech Link
2: Peter Gibson (Con - Darlington) I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting my debate on hospices, scheduled for 15 April.For - Speech Link
3: Penny Mordaunt (Con - Portsmouth North) Friend on securing the debate on hospices, which I am sure will be extremely well attended.My hon. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Maguire, Ruth (SNP - Cunninghame South) report, echoed by the SCVO’s latest findings in the Scottish third sector tracker, continues to identify finance - Speech Link
2: Briggs, Miles (Con - Lothian) example of where we need to embed the sector in decision making.Members will be aware that a Children’s Hospices - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: McNair, Marie (SNP - Clydebank and Milngavie) Children’s Hospices Across Scotland—CHAS—gave the following example to the committee:“Just the other - Speech Link
2: Briggs, Miles (Con - Lothian) I know that Mr Swinney cut employability schemes when he was finance secretary. - Speech Link
3: Dunbar, Jackie (SNP - Aberdeen Donside) Government funding, which I commend Douglas Lumsden on applying for during his time as the council’s finance - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Helen Morgan (LD - North Shropshire) They are finding it increasingly difficult to access finance, not least because of the demise of the - Speech Link
2: Peter Gibson (Con - Darlington) be used sensibly by the ICB in fulfilling its statutory duty to commission palliative care for our hospices - Speech Link
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of standardising funding for hospices.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we also recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in providing support to people at the end of life, and their loved ones. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding hospices receive is dependent on many factors, including what other statutory services are available within the integrated care board footprint.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she (a) has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report of the APPG for Hospice and End of Life care entitled Government funding for hospices, published in January 2024 and (b) plans to take steps in response to the findings in that report.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is already taking actions which will address many of the recommendations of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hospice and End of Life Care report.
As part of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government added palliative care services to the list of services that an integrated care board (ICB) must commission, which will ensure a more consistent national approach and support commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care.
In July 2022, NHS England published statutory guidance and service specifications for commissioners on palliative and end of life care, setting out the considerations for ICBs in order to meet their legal duties. The guidance makes specific reference to commissioners defining how their services will meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services. However, we also recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in providing support to people at end of life, and their families. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding hospices receive is dependent on many factors, including what other statutory services are available within the ICB footprint. Charitable hospices provide a range of services which go beyond that which statutory services are legally required to provide. Consequently, the funding arrangements reflect this.
NHS England has developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.
Additionally, as of April 2024, NHS England will include palliative and end of life care in the list of topics for regular performance discussions between national and regional leads. These meetings will provide an additional mechanism for supporting ICBs to continue to improve palliative and end of life care for their local population.
The Government have also provided additional funding to help deliver the one-off payments to eligible staff employed by non-NHS organisations, who employ their staff on dynamically linked Agenda for Change contracts. Organisations were able to apply for the funding and needed to show they had been negatively financially impacted by the pay deal, and that their staff are employed on dynamically linked Agenda for Change contracts.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to ensure the long-term sustainability of the hospice sector.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While no specific assessment has been made recently of the equity of funding provided to hospices across England or the sustainability of the funding model for hospices, there are several steps that the Department is taking to ensure the equity and sustainability of funding for hospices.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for determining the level of National Health Service funded palliative and end of life care, including hospice care, locally, and they are responsible for ensuring that the services they commission meet the needs of their local population.
The majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by NHS staff and services. However, we also recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, play in providing support to people at end of life and their loved ones. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. Charitable hospices provide a range of services which go beyond that which statutory services are legally required to provide and, consequently, the funding arrangements reflect this.
NHS England has developed of a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities and ensure that funding is distributed fairly based on prevalence.
At a national level, NHS England supports palliative and end of life care for children and young people through the Children and Young People’s hospice grant. It has confirmed that it will be renewing the grant for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million of grant funding for children’s hospices using the same prevalence-based allocation approach as in 2022/23 and 2023/24.
The Department recognises that one of the keys to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the hospice sector is to ensure that it can maintain a sufficient workforce. The Government have also provided additional funding to help deliver the one-off payments to eligible staff employed by non-NHS organisations, which employ their staff on dynamically linked Agenda for Change contracts. Organisations were able to apply for the funding and needed to show they had been negatively financially impacted by the pay deal, and that their staff are employed on dynamically linked Agenda for Change contracts.