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 merits of bringing the new Royal Liverpool hospital into public ownership.

Following extensive discussions with the funders of the project, the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust concluded at their Board meeting on 25 September that the Private Finance Initiative agreement should be terminated, and the hospital should be completed under public ownership. The Government announced on 26 September that it supports this approach. This will minimise the delay to opening up this large new hospital for local patients, following the collapse of Carillion.