Risk assessment on funding model changes
Scottish Hospitals Inquiry · Scottish Hospitals Inquiry Interim Report · Issued 4 March 2025 · Addressed to: Scottish Government
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
Accordingly, in situations where the funding model or procurement route changes mid project, a risk assessment should be conducted to assess whether work done on the project up to that point is suitable for the revised project. The rationale for decisions taken in this regard should be formally recorded.
The party carrying out the risk assessment should be the party on whom the potential risk falls and which is in a position to mitigate the risk, unless there are sound reasons why this should not be the case. In the case of the RHCYP and DCN project that party was NHS Lothian, notwithstanding that it was Scottish Government that made the decision to change the funding route, and consequentially, the contractual model.
Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, Scottish Hospitals Inquiry Interim Report · 4 Mar 2025 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- On 17 September 2025, the Scottish Government stated that the procuring NHS body will assess whether work done on a project up to the point of a funding model or procurement route change is suitable for the revised project, and that the rationale for decisions will be formally recorded (Scottish Parliament Question S6W-40544, 17 September 2025).
- No published formal risk assessment framework for mid-project procurement changes has been identified to March 2026.
Response — verbatim from government
●Scottish Government
All 11 recommendations accepted by Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray MSP on 13 March 2025. Progress update 17 September 2025: The procuring NHS body will assess whether work done on the project up to that point is suitable for the revised project. The rationale for decisions taken will be formally submitted to the NHS Capital Investment Group for approval.
Scottish Government · 13 Mar 2025 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 17 Sep 2025 · Scottish Government the procuring NHS body will assess whether work done on the project up to that point is suitable for the revised project. The rationale for decisions taken will be formally submitted to the NHS Capital Investment Group for approval.
- 13 Mar 2025 Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray MSP accepted all 11 recommendations in a parliamentary statement on 13 March 2025. Source →
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.