Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with (a) NHS England and (b) Tees Valley Combined Authority on options for (i) funding and (ii) delivering a new hospital to serve Teesside.

We recognise that delivering high quality National Health Service services requires safe, sustainable, and effective infrastructure. That is why we prioritised investment in healthcare at the recent Spending Review 2025 – delivering the largest ever health capital budget.

The New Hospital Programme (NHP) is the current mechanism for the delivery of hospitals and there are currently no plans to invite further schemes to join the NHP. The focus of the NHP is on delivery aligned to our Plan for Implementation. As such, there have been no discussions with NHS England and Tees Valley Combined Authority on options for funding and delivering a new hospital for Teesside.

It is possible that local NHS organisations could develop new health infrastructure using existing funding, short of a new hospital, if it aligns with their local priorities.