Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the 15 October 2025 report Investing in the NHS: empowering the sector to drive productivity, renewal and growth, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the report's recommendation to enable local authorities to invest in the NHS by ending the double-counting of expenditure by both local authorities and the NHS.

The Government welcomes the report Investing in the NHS: empowering the sector to drive productivity, renewal and growth and recognises the case it makes for unlocking additional investment in National Health Service infrastructure, including through stronger partnership with local government.

We also recognise the importance of capital investment in repairing and rebuilding our healthcare estate. This is why, as confirmed at the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Department’s capital budgets will rise to £15.2 billion by the end of the Spending Review period (2029/30), delivering the largest ever health capital budget and a four-year capital settlement.

However, any change in this area would need careful consideration to maintain proper control of public spending, clear accountability and value for money. The Department will therefore keep the recommendation under review as part of its wider work to support long term, sustainable capital investment and to enable local systems to plan and deliver infrastructure more effectively.

More broadly, significant reforms to the capital regime set out in our 10-Year Health Plan will give more power to the frontline and simplify and accelerate the capital approvals process, allowing systems and providers to plan strategically and deliver schemes faster.