Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Not Addressed
DHSC's confidential hospital construction schedule indicates extensive simultaneous building by 2030.
Conclusion
After the evidence session, DHSC provided us with its current detailed schedule showing the approval and construction stages for each scheme to be completed by 2030. DHSC told us that this would be subject to detailed re-planning which is underway and asked us not to publish the information on the grounds of commercial sensitivity, in particular with future competitive tendering processes in mind.17 However, with 19 new schemes (cohorts 3 and 4 and the additional RAAC hospitals) all to be completed by 2030 but not yet ready to start construction, it is clear that a very large number are currently scheduled to be under construction simultaneously during the last years of this decade. This is in a context in which a total of just four main contactors appear to be willing to consider building a large new hospital.18 Developing and testing a new standard hospital design
Government Response Summary
The government provides a generic statement about its commitment to rational decisions and balancing information protection, but does not address the committee's specific concerns about the feasibility of the construction schedule or contractor capacity.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
The department is committed to ensuring its practices, procedures, and advice result in rational decisions made through an appropriate process that take account of the right criteria. As a result, the department will be able to provide evidence on decision outcomes as needed, balanced against its responsibilities to protect certain types of information, such as commercially sensitive information.