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:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-hospital-programme-review-outcome/new-hospital-programme-equality-impact-assessment

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

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.

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.

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.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report by Mott MacDonald on reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete of April 2022, what recent assessment he has made of whether the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn will be able to operate safely beyond 2030.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care set out a credible and deliverable plan for the new hospital schemes in the New Hospital Programme (NHP) on 20 January 2025, following the conclusion of the review of the NHP. The Plan for Implementation was laid in the House Library and published on GOV.UK website, and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-hospital-programme-review-outcome

We will expedite the delivery of the schemes to replace hospitals built wholly or primarily from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) by focussing on the most affected buildings and services first. As confirmed in this publication, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned a comprehensive report of the seven hospitals built wholly or primarily from RAAC that are being replaced through the New Hospital Programme, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn, as the last report was undertaken in Autumn 2022 and covered five of the seven RAAC hospitals. The site-by-site report on all seven RAAC hospitals will help inform individual development plans, which include continued mitigation works and addressing the highest risk elements as early as possible through the phasing of works. The report will be based on an up-to-date assessment of the safety of the hospital site now, and in future.

The Department is in the final stages of the contract award with third party contractors to provide an updated report on the condition of the seven critical RAAC 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, on contract finder, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

We remain committed to removing RAAC fully from the NHS estate whilst working to keep facilities open, with patient and staff safety at the forefront of our decision making.

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