Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department has allocated to NHS hospital trusts to fix buildings adversely impacted by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in the last 12 months.

We have publicly committed to eradicating reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) from the National Health Service estate by 2035, protecting patient and staff safety in the interim period, with NHS approaching this on a ‘risk basis’ and prioritising NHS trusts of concern.

We have allocated a total of £685 million for mitigation works in all the affected trusts up to 2024/25. We are allocating funding annually, based on NHS trust plans and delivery progress. In the last financial year £210 million was allocated to NHS hospital trusts to manage RAAC issues on their estates.

The Government has on 25 May confirmed that five schemes that submitted an Expression of Interest for the next eight hospitals will join the New Hospital Programme (NHP). These hospitals all have significant amounts of RAAC and have been independently assessed as unsafe to operate beyond 2030. The Government is therefore prioritising these major rebuilds through the NHP, to address and neutralise the most pressing safety risks posed to staff and patients.