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 potential impact of using private partnerships to build NHS hospitals on public finances.

There has been no formal assessment on the potential impact of using private partnerships to build National Health Service hospitals. Current HM Treasury policy is that private finance cannot be used. As part of the NHS capital strategy, we are considering how best to address capital funding issues in the NHS estate, and all investments will be subject to value for money and strategic assessments.