Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his visit on 18 May 2018 to the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust to discuss construction of the new Royal Liverpool Hospital, what assessment he has made of the timeline for when (a) construction will resume on that hospital and (b) that hospital will open; and if he will make a statement.

The Government remains absolutely committed to getting the new Royal Liverpool Hospital built as quickly as possible and officials are working closely with the existing lenders and the Trust to achieve this. There is a key milestone on the 30 September, the longstop date set in the existing Private Finance Initiative contact for the completed hospital to be handed over to the Trust. This milestone is not now going to be met.

Once this date has passed the Trust has the option of declaring that the project is in default, which would be followed by the contract being terminated. The Government has indicated to the Trust that it will support them in whatever next steps they need to take, be it termination or some other option, to ensure the project is not delayed further. The timetable for opening the hospital will be an important factor in deciding on the best route forward and we are working towards achieving a decision on this by the end of September.

To date, significant concerns have been identified with work carried out by Carillion, and the investigation of this has resulted in delays.