Written question asked by Lord Maude of Horsham (Conservative) on Wednesday, 7 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 12 December 2005. It was answered by Liam Byrne (Labour) on Monday, 9 January 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Palliative Care (Children)

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessments she has made of the medical costs of providing palliative care in children's hospices.

Answer: Information is not available centrally on the medical costs of palliative care in children's hospices.Her Majesty's Treasury's 2002 cross cutting review on the role of the voluntary and community sector in service delivery recommended that funders should recognise that it is legitimate for voluntary and community sector providers to include the relevant element of overheads in their cost estimates for providing a given service under a contract or service agreement. This recommendation was drawn to the attention of primary care trust commissioners through the Chief Executive Bulletin published on 14 April 2005.

Secondary information