§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the relationship between the increase in the cost of transferring 365W neurosciences from the Brook hospital to the King's and Maudsley hospitals complex, the calculation involving the original cost of £27 million announced on 11 April 1989 by the then Minister of State and the present cost estimated at £50 million or more.
§ Mr. DorrellWhen the scheme was first submitted to the Department for approval in 1987 the cost at national average building rates was estimated to be £27 million. This figure subsisted throughout the approval in principle stage for comparative purposes.
In April 1989 the estimated costs were £42.5 million taking account of the rise in national building costs since 1987 and the additional costs of building in London.
The most recent estimate is that the total cost, taking full account of inflation since 1989 and the additional costs of building in London, has risen to £50.5 million.