Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects HM Treasury to approve the redevelopment of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. [153138]

Dr Poulter, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health: All major capital schemes are expected to demonstrate robustly that they are affordable to their trusts, and need to be approved by the Department of Health and HM Treasury before the Government can grant its approval.

The Department has had recent discussions with HM Treasury and the NHS Trust Development Authority (NHS TDA) about the business case for the redevelopment of the Royal Sussex County Hospital and to identify next steps in approval. The NHS TDA is currently leading the work with the Trust to provide new and refreshed financial information for HM Treasury to support the business case. This information is expected to be available in the coming weeks, however it is not possible at present to give an indication when an approval decision will be made.

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