Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the capital funding provided to Barts Health NHS Trust for fire safety works at (a) Newham Hospital Gateway Surgical Centre, (b) other areas of Newham Hospital and (c) other facilities within that Trust.

The Department does not actively assess local infrastructure projects such as fire safety works; this falls under the responsibility of individual trusts. The Department provides operational capital to address these needs, allowing National Health Service providers to prioritise works at the local level.

As such, North East London Integrated Care Board, of which Barts Health NHS Trust is a partner member, was allocated £83 million in operational capital in 2023/24, which can be used for capital projects, including fire safety works. Previously, the trust received £4.6 million in 2020/21 from national programmes to fund works relating to fire safety.