Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to expedite the approval process for a new net zero energy plant at Kettering General Hospital.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Yes I will. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the way he has championed this issue. I have visited the hospital; I have seen it for myself. As he will be aware, the full business case was received by the New Hospital Programme recently. While the cost has increased, it is still within the wider funding envelope for the scheme on that site and I will do everything I can to expedite the process as he asks. I have asked my ministerial colleague, Lord Markham, to meet with him to discuss this case.
Asked by: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to reduce the processing time of business case approvals for New Hospitals Programme bids.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is committed to building 40 new hospitals by 2030 - backed by an expected over £20 billion of investment in hospital infrastructure
We are working with all trusts, including Kettering, on what the certainty this funding confirmation represents and how it will benefit staff and patients
Our new standardisation approach to hospital design and construction, Hospital 2.0, means the process to review and agree business cases will be more streamlined, delivering results more quickly and almost halving the average time to develop and build hospitals.