Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many NHS estate properties are currently vacant, and what is their total value; and what are the NHS's plans for disposal of vacant estate properties.

The last National Health Service surplus land annual data collection, published in June 2016, reported there were 418 plots of land in the NHS identified as surplus to requirements. Our current assessment is that around a quarter of these, 121 sites, are vacant. We are in the process of collecting updated information about the market values of these sites as part of this year’s annual data collection, to be published in June 2017.

The Department is working with the NHS to ensure that property is used in a way that ensures the best possible services for patients, best value for taxpayers in freeing additional resources for reinvestment in new facilities and services and which supports wider housing objectives, including by releasing surplus NHS land sufficient for 26,000 homes by March 2020.

The recently published independent review of the NHS estate by Sir Robert Naylor highlights the opportunities available to the NHS to support Sustainability and Transformation Plans and deliver best value, by optimising the use of NHS land and buildings. Work is already underway by the Government to take forward some of the recommendations including the design of a new NHS property body which will build strategic estates capabilities at a national and local level and support the identification and disposal of surplus NHS land.