The Modern Service Framework for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care was never intended to introduce new, ring‑fenced funding. Its primary purpose is to set the strategic direction for improving palliative care and end-of-life care, including reducing variation in access, quality, and outcomes across the system.

In the context of wider fiscal pressures, the focus is on ensuring that existing resources are used as effectively as possible, supported by a shift towards more strategic, population‑based commissioning.

Since July 2024, the Government has been rebuilding a broken National Health Service dentistry system. We have delivered 1.8 million more dental treatments and reduced the underspend from £392 million in 2023/24 to just £36 million in 2024/25, maximising the treatments provided for taxpayers’ money.

We have brought into force a package of reforms this year to address some of the most pressing issues that dentists and dental teams have been experiencing, including rewarding them more fairly for treating patients with urgent and complex needs.

Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions to rebuild NHS dentistry. We are increasing the supply of dentists through a sustained expansion of 50 new dental school places and an increase in exams to allow 2,000 more internationally qualified dentists to practise in the United Kingdom.

No assessment has been made of either introducing a maximum annual limit on the amount of public funding that may be spent on an individual’s adult social care package, or implementing a cap on annual local authority expenditure on adult social care.

Under the Care Act 2014, access to care and support is based on a person's eligible needs, while any contribution towards the cost of that care is based on what they can afford to pay.

We are committed to reforming the dental contract by the end of this Parliament, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention, and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability.

The financial pressures and the cost of new commitments for the National Health Service are analysed as part of the Spending Review process. The 2025 Spending Review sets departmental budgets for day-to-day spending up to 2028/29 and for capital for five years to 2029/30. This level of funding growth is intended to support the NHS in delivering the Government’s priorities, including commitments set out in the Government’s Plan for Change. Further detail is provided at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2025-document/spending-review-2025-html

The Government has committed to hold a Spending Review every two years. The process for the next Spending Review, due to be held in 2027, will be set in due course.

The forthcoming Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care will include a delivery plan to support implementation of the framework. On 4 June, we published an interim update in the form of a Written Ministerial Statement, which is available at the following link:

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-06-04/hcws88

The MSF will support the shift to the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care, based on the integrated needs assessment completed by the integrated care board. This supports the effective and equitable use of resources of services commissioned and contracted at a local level to meet identified population needs now and in the future.

The 2026/27 GP Contract makes clear that requests identified by practices as clinically urgent should be responded to on the same day. This builds on NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework, which set an expectation that urgent appointments should be delivered on the same day so that patients with urgent needs are prioritised.

We recognise that practices will need the right capacity and flexibility to deliver this. That is why we are investing an additional £601 million in general practices (GPs) in 2026/27, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to approximately £14 billion. This builds on the £1.1 billion increase in 2025/26, the largest uplift in over a decade. Since October 2024 we have recruited 2,000 more GPs. We now have the highest number of GPs by headcount since 2015. The 2026/27 contract also introduces a practice-level GP reimbursement scheme, backed by £292 million of ringfenced funding, to help practices recruit more GPs or expand sessions.

This will support practices to manage demand, improve access for patients, strengthen GP employment, and continue to improve patient satisfaction.

Same-day appointment levels have remained broadly steady. In May 2026, 44.9% of appointments were booked and attended on the same day, up 0.3% from April 2026 and 0.7% from May 2025. This represents approximately 13 million appointments taking place on the day of booking.

The 10 Year Capital Plan will support progress towards the Government’s commitment to deliver 250 neighbourhood health centres by 2035, with 120 to be delivered by 2030.

27 sites have already been selected across England to bring care closer to home through a first wave of Neighbourhood Health Centre schemes. Locations for these sites can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/communities-to-benefit-from-health-centres-on-their-doorstep

As set out in the 10-Year Capital Plan, integrated care boards are in the process of developing proposals for a further wave of Neighbourhood Health Centre schemes in their localities, based on their deep understanding of population need and local infrastructure requirements. This work will be supported by National Health Service regions, who will also play a central role in shaping a coherent pipeline of future neighbourhood health centres across their geography.

Further updates on scheme timelines and locations will be shared when this information becomes available.

The Government is making over £4.6 billion of additional funding available for adult social care in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26, to support the sector in making improvements. This includes additional grant funding, growth in other sources of income available to support adult social care, and an increase to the National Health Service contribution to adult social care via the Better Care Fund, in line with the Department’s Spending Review settlement.

The Government does not allocate a specific proportion of adult social care funding to meals on wheels services. Local authorities are responsible for how they use available funding to fulfil their duties under the Care Act 2014. The Government has radically simplified local authority funding for adult social care, giving councils more flexibility over the use of funding to deliver this government’s priorities for adult social care and respond to local need.

The Government has a longstanding commitment to provide funding to local authorities on a non-ringfenced basis. This supports effective and innovative financial management at the local level, giving local authorities the flexibility to make spending decisions based on local needs and priorities. This commitment underpins the Government’s wider approach to simplifying the funding landscape and reducing unnecessary controls and administrative burdens.

South Norfolk is one of the fastest growing constituencies in the United Kingdom, but that population growth is putting increased pressure on local GP services like the Humbleyard Practice. Given the Government’s ambition to expand neighbourhood health provision, will the Department consider funding a neighbourhood health centre or community diagnostic centre in Long Stratton and Hethersett?

We have had 23 reviews into social care since 1997, but no agreement on how care should be funded. Does the Minister agree that the way we fund cancer care should also be the way that we fund care of those with dementia?

Whilst the majority of palliative care and end-of-life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at the end of life and their loved ones.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between ICB areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.

We recognise the difficult financial situation that many hospices are facing due to a range of concurrent cost pressures. That is why we have supported the sector with a £125 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. We are also providing approximately £80 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices over three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive, giving them the stability they need to plan ahead.

The Government is developing a Modern Service Framework for Palliative Care and End‑of‑Life Care. An interim update has now been published in the form of a Written Ministerial Statement, with the full report due to be published in Autumn 2026.

In the interim update, we set out that we expect all ICBs to complete an integrated needs assessment, to gain a detailed understanding of their current and future population, including people of all ages with palliative care and end-of-life care needs. We are asking ICBs to move to sustainable contracting of adult, and children and young people’s, hospice services, based on their integrated needs assessment. Initially, this will involve the move away from short-term grant funding for adult hospice services from 2027/28.

We recognise the challenging financial situation facing many hospices due to a range of cost pressures, and we understand that some children and young people’s hospices are having to make difficult decisions about services.

However, to support the sector, the Government has provided a £125 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England and has secured approximately £80 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices over the three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29, helping to provide greater financial certainty and stability.

Since the beginning of this year, NHS England has written twice to all integrated care boards (ICBs) requesting an update on the financial stability of hospices within their footprint and the steps being taken to mitigate risks as a matter of urgency. As part of the most recent request, in April, information was also gathered from Hospice UK to provide a rounded picture of the hospice sector. It is clear from all the returns received that there is a clear commitment from ICBs to work collaboratively with hospices and to understand any existing or potential impact of financial pressures, with clear steps being taken at a local level to mitigate risks to patients.

The Government is developing a Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care, and published an interim update on 4 June 2026 in the form of a Written Ministerial Statement, which is available at the following link:

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-06-04/hcws88

The final MSF is due to be published in Autumn 2026 and will embed palliative care and end-of-life care within a strategic commissioning model centred on clear and transparent contractual arrangements for commissioned palliative care activity across all providers, including hospices, to meet population health needs, with explicit regard to reducing inequalities and improving outcomes for underserved and disadvantaged groups.

Work to implement the MSF is already underway. A letter from NHS England’s National Director for Primary Care and Community Services has been issued to systems asking integrated care boards to undertake integrated needs assessments and move towards the sustainable contracting of hospice services. Initially, this will involve moving away from short-term grant funding for adult hospice services from 2027/28. NHS England’s letter is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/strategic-commissioning-hospice-services-update-modern-service-framework-palliative-care-end-of-life-care/

Community Dental Services (CDS) provide specialised dental services to people with additional needs and are available in a variety of places to ensure everyone can have access to dental care.

In 2024/25, we invested £3.7 billion in primary and community dental services across England. There is no national budget specifically for CDS in England. Instead, overall dental funding allocated to integrated care boards (ICBs) is ringfenced, covering spend on primary, community, and secondary care commissioning. ICBs make their own decisions about the relative prioritisation within this ringfence, in order to best meet the needs of their population.