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 the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for the development of the proposed new hospital in Harlow.

In September 2019 the Government announced the Health Infrastructure Plan - a new, strategic approach to improving our hospitals and health infrastructure, and rolling programme of investment, to ensure that our health infrastructure is fit-for-purpose for decades to come.

The Princess Alexandra Hospitals NHS Trust’s major scheme is one of the six projects that will form the first £2.7 billion phase of the major hospital rebuilds. This money has been committed by the Government and gives the green light for a phased redevelopment of its estate.

The Trust are currently working with local clinical commissioning groups to finalise the Pre-Consultation Business Case, before progressing to consultation. After that, the Trust will work towards submission of the Outline Business Case, which will then go through a single Departmental/National Health Service process as part of the streamlined approvals that the Government is implementing.