Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what was the total spend on consultancy fees for the New Hospitals Programme since 2019.

The New Hospital Programme is a national programme that is responsible for the delivery of the Government’s commitment to build 40 new hospitals. As with all Government Major Projects the national programme requires the expertise and support of external contractors to support specific and time limited elements of delivery, particularly during the programme’s establishment. The consultants the programme has engaged with have been necessary for work packages required and brought technical skills, support and experience on a temporary and specific basis.

The total spend on consultancy fees since the New Hospital Programme was set up in 2020 to December 2022 is £56.7 million.

Developing a hospital building programme at a national level provides opportunities to drive better standards, utilising economies of scale to provide improved value for money and enable faster delivery of the new hospital schemes. By engaging with specific consultants as a programme we have been able to use them once, rather than individual trusts separately seeking consultant support, making the process more efficient and cost effective. We continually review the number of consultants being utilised by the New Hospital Programme.