Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of delays in the Hospitals Transformation Programme on (a) recruitment and (b) the filling of rosters in the local hospitals.

We have not made a specific assessment. Staffing and recruitment is affected by many factors at a local level and although delays to planned build programmes and the condition of the estate may contribute, data has not been collected at national level.