Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2021 to Question 62857 on Hospitals: Construction, how many of the eight pathfinder trusts have asked his Department to release funding for the detailed design and enabling works required to help them meet the New Hospital Programme's timescales.

All trusts in the pathfinder cohort have asked the Department to release funding for the detailed design and enabling works. Before any funding can be provided, business cases are submitted, which must follow the appropriate governance routes to ensure that the works demonstrate maximum value for money for the taxpayer. In some cases, this is still in progress. All schemes which are part of the programme remain on track, which will result in 40 new hospitals built by 2030.