2. How is the Welsh Government ensuring that children in need of palliative care get the best possible care? OQ56741

Thank you very much. The Welsh Government works closely with the end-of-life care board and the all-Wales paediatric palliative care network to drive continuous improvements in palliative care and end-of-life care for adults, children and young people across Wales.

Diolch yn fawr. My question is in two parts. Can the Welsh Government outline how much of the £8.4 million invested into the end-of-life care sector each year in Wales goes towards paediatric palliative care services? Secondly, Tŷ Hafan and Tŷ Gobaith receive less than 10 per cent of their funding from the Welsh Government. This is a significantly lower proportion than children's hospices in England and Scotland receive from their respective Governments. Can this Government therefore commit to increasing state funding for Wales's two children's hospices in the long term, and to meeting with Tŷ Hafan and Tŷ Gobaith to ensure their needs are considered in the upcoming funding review for hospices? Diolch yn fawr.  

Diolch yn fawr. Thank you. I can't give you the exact breakdown for the £8.4 million, but I can give it to you for the additional funding we gave during the pandemic. You'll be aware that we gave an extra £12.3 million to hospices during the pandemic, and of that, £2.3 million was specifically for our two children's hospices in Wales. So, that should give you an idea of what it would be proportionately also for that £8.4 million. You'll be aware that in our manifesto we made it clear that we do want to revise the way that we fund hospices in Wales, and we do want to strengthen our end-of-life care. That work has already started. There is a new programme for end-of-life care. We will be publishing the revised proposal and we will be sharing that proposal with stakeholders in Wales towards the end of the month. We expect that to take about three to four months, so hopefully that will report then in the autumn. 

Minister, hospice care, especially for children, is a sensitive and emotive subject, but the pandemic and lockdowns have made a difficult subject worse. Last year, Tŷ Hafan and Tŷ Gobaith jointly published 'Family Voices', a report that gave voice to the most important concerns of families who have children with life-limiting conditions. They stressed that they urgently needed more of the care that only the hospices could provide, especially in relation to respite. Do you agree, Minister, that a sustainable model of funding would give the children's hospices in Wales confidence to plan and expand their services to better meet the needs of all children with life-limiting conditions and their families across Wales?  

Thanks very much, Natasha. You're quite right that the 'Family Voices' report does highlight the importance of supporting those children with life-limiting conditions and, of course, their families as well, who are going through a very traumatic time supporting them. It does propose that lifeline fund for Wales; that's precisely what we're looking at in this revision that is being undertaken at the moment and that, as I say, will be reporting in the autumn.

I think you might also be interested to hear that actually I met with the Ministers from the four UK nations to share best practice, and to discuss in particular how teenagers and young adults affected by cancer are properly supported during their appointments. It was good to compare notes with the different health Ministers across the UK in terms of what they're doing to respond, and learning from each other to make sure that we're all doing the very best for people in this most difficult, sensitive area. It is important, in particular, I think, in the middle of a pandemic, to just deal with this situation as sensitively as we can. 

Minister, I just want to continue with the theme of funding. I'm afraid I'm going to come back to it, because I do really want to pin you down. Thank you very much to Peredur and to Natasha as well for raising this important issue. I was really shocked to hear from Tŷ Gobaith and Tŷ Hafan that they only got 10 per cent of their funding from the Welsh Government. Let's just pin this one down: in Scotland, 50 per cent of their funding comes from the Scottish Government; Northern Ireland, 25 per cent; England, 21 per cent. And yet we only give 10 per cent. I'm sure we really could do better. So, my appeal to you is: can we really commit ourselves to increasing that in this really important area and can you be just much clearer about timelines? The autumn is four months; it's from September through to Christmas. Can you just be really a little bit clearer about how much you're looking at and when we'll get that result? Thank you. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Thanks very much, Jane, and just to make it clear that we recognise that we do need to do better in this space and that's why we're undertaking this review; that's why it was in our manifesto and that's why we've moved on very quickly—we were only elected a few weeks ago on that manifesto and already, we've got that workshop in place that is going to happen later this month. So, if you want more specifics, it's anticipated that that review will take about three to four months. So, I can be that specific. You're quite right: the autumn can go on for a long period, but that should give you a better idea of exactly when we hope to report on this situation, which we have made a commitment to.