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, what assessment he has made of adequacy of the delivery of palliative care services required by the Health and Social Care Act 2022; what steps he is taking to monitor the delivery of those services; and if he will take steps to provide regular reports to Parliament on the progress of the delivery of those services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. While the National Health Service has always been required to commission appropriate palliative and end of life care services to meet the reasonable needs of the population, as part of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government added palliative care services to the list of services an integrated care board must commission, to clarify this responsibility.
NHS England has actively increased its support to local commissioners to improve the accessibility, quality and sustainability of palliative and end of life care for all. This has included the publication of statutory guidance and service specifications, with further resources available on the FutureNHS Collaboration Platform. The statutory guidance and service specifications can be found at the following links:
In addition, NHS England has funded the establishment of a palliative and end of life care Strategic Clinical Network in every NHS England region, which work closely with local commissioners regarding the development of accessible, high quality and sustainable services.
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 he plans to provide guidance to integrated care boards on the (a) quantity and (b) quality of palliative care they are required to provide under the Health and Social Care Act 2022.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. While the National Health Service has always been required to commission appropriate palliative and end of life care services to meet the reasonable needs of the population, as part of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government added palliative care services to the list of services an integrated care board must commission, to clarify this responsibility.
NHS England has actively increased its support to local commissioners to improve the accessibility, quality and sustainability of palliative and end of life care for all. This has included the publication of statutory guidance and service specifications, with further resources available on the FutureNHS Collaboration Platform. The statutory guidance and service specifications can be found at the following links:
In addition, NHS England has funded the establishment of a palliative and end of life care Strategic Clinical Network in every NHS England region, which work closely with local commissioners regarding the development of accessible, high quality and sustainable services.
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, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of ring-fencing funding for palliative care on the uniform provision of palliative care across the country.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. While the National Health Service has always been required to commission appropriate palliative and end of life care services to meet the reasonable needs of the population, as part of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government added palliative care services to the list of services an integrated care board must commission, to clarify this responsibility.
NHS England has actively increased its support to local commissioners to improve the accessibility, quality and sustainability of palliative and end of life care for all. This has included the publication of statutory guidance and service specifications, with further resources available on the FutureNHS Collaboration Platform. The statutory guidance and service specifications can be found at the following links:
In addition, NHS England has funded the establishment of a palliative and end of life care Strategic Clinical Network in every NHS England region, which work closely with local commissioners regarding the development of accessible, high quality and sustainable services.
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, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of NHS funding for hospices that provide commissioned services on behalf of the NHS.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. While the National Health Service has always been required to commission appropriate palliative and end of life care services to meet the reasonable needs of the population, as part of the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government added palliative care services to the list of services an integrated care board must commission, to clarify this responsibility.
NHS England has actively increased its support to local commissioners to improve the accessibility, quality and sustainability of palliative and end of life care for all. This has included the publication of statutory guidance and service specifications, with further resources available on the FutureNHS Collaboration Platform. The statutory guidance and service specifications can be found at the following links:
In addition, NHS England has funded the establishment of a palliative and end of life care Strategic Clinical Network in every NHS England region, which work closely with local commissioners regarding the development of accessible, high quality and sustainable services.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of Government support for Brian House Children's Hospice.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made.
Integrated care boards are required to commission the appropriate palliative and end of life care services considered necessary to meet the reasonable needs of their local populations.
Additionally, NHS England is investing £25 million in the financial year 2023/2024 to provide care close to home for seriously ill children, as and when they need it. Additionally, £7 million in match funding is being made available to commissioners for local children’s palliative and end of life care services for the financial year 2023/2024.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Health and Care Act 2022, what progress he has made on implementing comprehensive palliative care for all patients who require that service.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards have a legal duty to commission palliative and end of life care services that meet the needs of their local population. To support systems in implementing the Health and Care Act 2022, NHS England has made available a number of resources including statutory guidance, a supporting handbook and service specifications for both adults and children and young people.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department provided for services that support children with terminal life-shortening conditions in each of the last three years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for children’s and young people’s palliative and end of life care is made available locally through integrated care boards, who are responsible for commissioning services in response to the needs of their local population.
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, providing approximately £15 million in 2020/21, £17 million in 2021/22, £21 million in 2022/23, rising to £25 million in 2023/24. Furthermore, as part of the NHS Long Term Plan, up to £2 million in 2020/21, up to £3 million in 2021/22 and up to £5 million in 2022/23 of match funding has been made available to commissioners who increase their overall level of investment in local children’s palliative and end of life care services, rising to up to £7 million in 2023/24.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that funding for children’s hospices working across multiple Integrated Care Boards is not reduced when funding is devolved to individual boards.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a legal duty to commission palliative and end of life care services that meet the needs of their population, including those of children and young people.
It is for ICBs to decide how to distribute resources in local areas by addressing priorities. To support transition to the new ICBs from the predecessor clinical commission group (CCG) structure, NHS England has disaggregated allocations to CCG level, in line with its share of the weighted population of the ICB.
The development of seven palliative and end of life care Strategic Clinical Networks will support working between integrated care systems and help develop sustainable commissioning models.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to prioritise children’s hospice and palliative care providers for targeted financial support when the non-domestic Energy Bill Relief Scheme ends in March 2023.
Answered by Graham Stuart
HM Treasury is currently conducting a review of the EBRS and evidence from care providers is included. However, the Government cannot confirm which sectors will receive further support after 31st March 2023 until the end of the review, which will be reported by the end of the year 2022.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that households with children who need palliative care and who use pre-payment meters can access a secure and affordable supply of energy.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government’s Energy Price Guarantee will bring a typical household bill down to the equivalent of around £2500 per year from 1 October 2022 to end of March 2023 (with equivalent support in NI). From April 2023, the Energy Price Guarantee will be adjusted to cap typical household bills at £3,000 until the end of March 2024. Additionally, the Energy Bills Support Scheme will provide electricity customers in Great Britain with £400 off their bills from October 2022.
Ofgem Standard Licence Conditions require suppliers to ensure that prepayment meters are only installed where it is ‘safe and reasonably practicable’ - including consideration of whether a consumer’s vulnerability makes a prepayment meter a poor choice, for example where medical equipment is required.