Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on providing support for new capital bids for Warrington and Halton hospital sites.

The Department has focused on improving how it supports projects centrally, for example through joint central approvals and work on hospital design standards.

Future National Health Service capital funding will be determined as part of the Department’s multi-year settlement at the next Spending Review.

Trusts should continue developing their plans and priorities for local NHS infrastructure and discuss their proposals with NHS England and NHS Improvement. Then, once the capital settlement has been confirmed with HM Treasury, the Department will consider carefully how new bids can be prioritised within it.