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.

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.