Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the resilience of critical hospital infrastructure against extreme heat events a) nationally and b) in Chichester constituency.

Our 10 Year Capital Plan for Health and Social Care sets out a clear commitment to renew our focus on climate resilience. The Plan is backed by record investment, including £6.75 billion through the Estates Safety Fund to address critical maintenance risks, including risks to cooling and ventilation systems.

The South West region has been allocated over £502 million from the Estates Safety Fund for the period between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to address critical infrastructure and safety risks. This is alongside a more than £628 million planning assumption for estates up to 2034/35.

We are also building for the future. All New Hospital Programme schemes from 2025 that are Hospital 2.0 compliant, and all new-build Neighbourhood Health Centres, will have climate resilience embedded into their design from the outset.