Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department is providing to hospital trusts waiting for their wave of the New Hospital Programme to be implemented.

Some Wave 2 and 3 schemes will receive funding for specific agreed activities, such as land purchases, that can be progressed during the Spending Review period. We will continue to engage with trusts over the next five years to establish whether there are any activities that can be progressed during the Spending Review period.

The Government recognises that in the interim, delivering high-quality National Health Service healthcare services requires safe, sustainable, and effective infrastructure. That is why the Government is backing the NHS with over £4 billion in operational capital and £750 million for estates safety in 2025/26, enabling systems to allocate funding according to local priorities, including maintenance and repairs at New Hospital Programme (NHP) sites. NHS trusts waiting for their NHP wave to be implemented should discuss options with the responsible system in order to allocate 2025/26 operational capital and national programme allocations towards needs at their sites. Capital funding levels beyond 2025/26 will be determined by the current Spending Review, concluding in June of this year, which will consider the needs of the NHS estate.