Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospitals in England are constructed using reinforced clay pots.

There has been no national survey to identify the use of reinforced clay pot and beam construction across the National Health Service estate. NHS organisations are responsible for maintaining their estates and identifying the construction types present in their buildings.

Following the review of the New Hospital Programme (NHP) and publication of the Plan for Implementation in January 2025, Hampshire Hospitals was placed in Wave 3, with main construction expected to start between 2037 and 2039.

A multi-criteria decision support analysis tool was used to support the prioritisation of schemes. Schemes were assessed on factors such as risk, deliverability, clinical outcomes, cost, and the estate conditions.

As set out in the Plan for Implementation, schemes were prioritised into upper, middle, and lower thirds. Through this analysis, consideration was given to whether the nine schemes that were already proposed to start after 2030 following the May 2023 announcement, including Hampshire Hospitals, were sufficiently high risk to substitute other schemes in upcoming waves of construction.

The output was reviewed with colleagues across the Department, the NHP and NHS England to generate a delivery schedule for the programme that aligned with the NHP’s funding envelope.

The devolution programme has not impacted the NHP.