Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the increase in the cost of implementing the reconfiguration of Health Care Services in Shropshire since the decision to reconfigure those services was taken; whether the additional funding of £134m be made available so that building work can commence in 2022.

We will continue to support Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust to progress the Shropshire Future Fit scheme, including identifying suitable acceleration opportunities to speed up delivery overall. This could include providing funding for enabling works to allow construction to begin in advance of Full Business Case approval.

Recent improvements have been introduced to support projects centrally, for example a streamlined business case process with joint central approvals. In addition, our work on hospital design standards also provides a stronger approach to project delivery, to ensure that funding is reaching the frontline as soon and efficiently as possible.