Department of Health and Social Care: Departmental Expenditure Limits
(asked on 4th December 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy papers entitled Spending Review 2025, published on 30 June 2025, and Budget 2025, published on 28 November 2025, what their Department’s capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be in each year of the Spending Review period; how much capital funding has been allocated to each of their Department’s programmes; and how much and what proportion of the capital DEL allocation remains unallocated in each year.
The 2025 Autumn Budget confirmed that the Department’s capital budgets will rise to £15.2 billion by the end of the 2025 Spending Review period, in 2029/30, to invest in the National Health Service and wider health infrastructure. The following table shows the planned Capital Departmental Expenditure Limits from 2024/25 to 2029/30:
Outturn 2024/25 (£bn) | Planned 2025/26 (£bn) | Planned 2026/27 (£bn) | Planned 2027/28 (£bn) | Planned 2028/29 (£bn) | Planned 2029/30 (£bn) |
£11.5 | £13.6 | £14.0 | £13.8 | £14.8 | £15.2 |
Funding allocations for national capital programmes for spend in the NHS across the 2025 Spending Review period are outlined in the NHS Capital Planning Guidance, for 2026/27 to 2029/30, at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/capital-guidance-2026-27-to-2029-30/
Business planning is conducted each financial year to ensure capital funding is allocated appropriately. Therefore, the allocations set out in the guidance represent indicative figures. The following table shows the allocations set out for the national programme, for estates safety, for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete work, and for constitutional standards and left shift, from 2025/26 to 2029/30:
National programme | 2025/26 (£’000) | 2026/27 (£’000) | 2027/28 (£’000) | 2028/29 (£’000) | 2029/30 (£’000) |
Estates safety | 750,000 | 750,000 | 750,000 | 750,000 | 750,000 |
Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete | 440,000 | 432,000 | 402,000 | 391,000 | 399,000 |
Constitutional standards and left shift | 1,650,000 | 1,873,509 | 1,001,290 | 950,500 | 591,000 |
In addition, the 2025 Autumn Budget confirmed £300 million of additional capital investment in NHS technology, building on the investment of up to £10 billion of combined revenue and capital by 2028/29 announced at the 2025 Spending Review. We are also investing over £400 million for upgrades to primary care buildings and neighbourhood health centres over the 2026/27 to 2029/30 period.
We remain committed to delivering all schemes within the New Hospital Programme, which will continue through the 2025 Spending Review period, with funding rising from £979 million in 2026/27 to £3 billion by 2029/30.
Our plans fully allocate research and development funding, which is classified as capital, and for agreed national infrastructure and pandemic preparedness schemes.
The Department does not routinely hold back unallocated capital but has an active role in managing the overall position throughout the year as pressures and underspends emerge as part of core financial management, to ensure capital funding is maximised to address strategic priorities and delivery for the taxpayer.