Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

What progress his Department has made on the building of new hospitals.

Considerable progress has been made since the announcement of the Health Infrastructure Plan (HIP) schemes last September, despite coronavirus impacts. A number of the six HIP 1 schemes for new hospitals are approaching early enabling works. HIP 2 schemes have received seed funding and are working up their business cases at pace. We remain committed to, and on target to deliver, on our pledge to build 40 new hospitals.