Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent officials are working on the New Hospitals Programme in (a) his Department and (b) NHS England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of 31 December 2024, there were 25 full-time equivalent (FTE) officials working on the New Hospital Programme (NHP) in the NHP Sponsor Team in the Department, along with 165.4 FTE officials working in the NHP Delivery Team in NHS England. These figures include inward secondments, individuals employed on fixed term contracts and permanent employees, but do not include any external resources such as individuals engaged via third party commercial contracts.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled New Hospital Programme: plan for implementation, published on 20 January 2025, whether (a) NHS England and (b) his Department plan to approve business cases submitted by NHS Trusts that are subject to the completion of the site-by-site report process for hospitals with RAAC.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The site-by-site report that has been commissioned on the seven hospitals in the New Hospital Programme (NHP) that were built predominantly with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) will help inform individual development plans, which continue to progress at pace.
The report’s findings are due in summer 2025 and will not impact the business case process for either NHS England or the Department. The trusts will need to follow the business case process as set out in HM Treasury’s Green Book, as is usual for large infrastructure projects.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what approvals process (a) NHS England and (b) his Department has for business cases under the New Hospitals Programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Each National Health Service trust seeking approval for their New Hospital Programme (NHP) scheme will need to follow the business case process as set out in HM Treasury’s Green Book. Trusts will need to develop and gain approval for a Strategic Outline Case, followed by an Outline Business Case, and finally a Full Business Case. Following the approval of their Full Business Case, funding is released at agreed milestones. Following submission by the trust, the approvals process is as follows:
- once reviewed and approved by the NHP Investment Committee, NHS England’s regional teams undertake a fundamental criteria review of the business case, which is then submitted to the joint Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England National Capital Assurance Team, where an independent assurance review is undertaken by a number of subject matter experts to ensure it meets the criteria as outlined in HM Treasury’s Green Book, and a report is prepared and presented to the Department of Health and Social Care’s Joint Investment Committee for consideration; and
- once agreed by the Department of Health and Social Care’s Joint Investment Committee, the business case is submitted for onward approval by ministers and HM Treasury, if necessary.
The level of approval required for business cases will depend on the amount requested. Some requests for fees and enabling works, for example, are requested in parallel via a separate, shorter process to the main scheme’s approval process.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's policy paper entitled New Hospitals Programme: plan for implementation, published on 20 January 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the delay in opening the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to 2032-33 on (a) patients and (b) staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
An equality impact assessment was carried out for the review which included assessing the extent to which service users might be impacted by these delivery proposals, with specific reference to the impact that these might have on relevant protected characteristics. This was laid in the House Library and published on 20 January 2025, and is available at the following link:
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the commissioning of an updated site-by-site report of the RAAC hospitals as set out in the policy paper entitled New Hospital Programme: plan for implementation, published on 20 January 2025, who is conducting the report of the Queen Elizabeth hospital in King's Lynn; and if he will publish the terms of reference of that review.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is in final stages of contract award with third party contractors to provide an updated report on the condition of the seven critical reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete hospitals, including Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. Once the contract is finalised it will be available publicly, including the information on who is conducting the work, at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) strategic (b) outline and (c) final business cases were submitted to his department in each of the last three years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2024, a period of three years, the Department had 13 strategic outline cases, 100 outline business cases, and 116 full business cases submitted for review. For 2022, this was five strategic outline cases, 46 outline business cases, and 37 full business cases submitted for review. For 2023, this was four strategic outline cases, 31 outline business cases, and 40 full business cases submitted for review. Finally, for 2024, this was four strategic outline cases, 23 outline business cases, and 39 full business cases submitted for review.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made in reducing waiting times for (a) speech and language therapy services and (b) neurodevelopmental services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England are committed to reducing long waits and improving timely access to community health services. This includes improving access to Speech and Language Therapy through the Early Language and Support for Every Child (ELSEC) pathfinder project within the Department for Education’s existing £70 million Change Programme in partnership with NHS England. The ELSEC programme provides training and support to education settings to increase their ability to support speech, language, and communication development.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism. In 2024/25, £4.3 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.
In respect of ADHD, we are supporting a cross-sector taskforce that NHS England has launched into challenges in ADHD service provision and its impact on patient experience. The taskforce is bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the National Health Service, education, and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD, including timely access to services and support.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of patients waiting over 52 weeks for elective care in (a) England, (b) Norfolk and Waveney ICB area and (c) Queen Elizabeth King's Lynn Hospital Trust; and what his target is for eliminating waits of over a year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Across England, at the end of November 2024, over 221,000 patient pathways involved waits of more than 52 weeks for elective treatment, which is down by over 80,000 since June 2024.
At the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, at the end of November 2024, over 6,800 patient pathways involved waits of more than 52 weeks for elective treatment, down by over 3,600 since June 2024. At the Queen Elizabeth King's Lynn Hospital Trust, at the end of November 2024, 585 patient pathways involved waits of more than 52 weeks for elective treatment, down from 609 in June 2024.
We have committed to achieving the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment (RTT) by March 2029. The Elective Reform Plan, published on 6 January 2025, sets out how we will achieve this and the interim targets we will meet in doing so.
Whilst our focus is on achieving the RTT constitutional standard, it is unacceptable that patients are waiting over a year for care. Tackling the longest waits will be a key part of achieving our commitment and we will continue to review and treat the patients who have waited the longest, as well as monitoring progress on the 18-week standard.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with Norfolk and Waveney Acute Healthcare Collaborative on its proposal to move to a group model of operation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is aware that Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust, and James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are considering the possibility of transitioning to a group model of operation from April 2025, with a single Chair and CEO across the three trusts.
The Department is not involved in approving group models. The trusts’ proposal has been made locally and the Case for Change will be subject to approval from NHS England to ensure that all appropriate planning and safeguards are in place for the change to happen.
The group model is intended to strengthen collaboration, enabling optimal efficiency, sharing of resources, a unified approach to tackling large-scale challenges, and improved patient care and outcomes.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of (a) the forecast spend on NHS dentistry by Norfolk and Waveney ICB and (b) its allocated budget for the financial year 2024-5.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service in England invests £3 billion on dentistry every year. The responsibility for commissioning primary care, including dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. The NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB has committed to investing £6.7 million in dental services for 2024/25.