§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) of 10 June,Official Report, columns 427–28, what is his definition of genuine health need for the purposes of determining priority for hospital projects seeking funding from public capital. [6822]
§ Mr. MilburnThe National Health Service Executive National Capital Prioritisation Advisory Group has recently been tasked with evaluating all major capital projects in the NHS on the basis of service need.
The criteria for measuring health service need is expected to be similar to that used to assess service need in the recent Private Finance Initiative prioritisation exercise, copies of which have been placed in the Library.
§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what criteria will be employed to determine the priority for funding from public capital of projects deemed unsuitable as a PFI project; [6795]
(2) if he will list the criteria which will be used to select hospitals for inclusion in his future list of projects to be pursued by the PFI. [6793]
§ Mr. MilburnThe National Health Service Executive National Capital Prioritisation Advisory Group will review all major acute schemes on the basis of health service need, regardless whether they are to be funded from public or private capital.
The criteria for measuring health service need is expected to be similar to that used to assess service need in the recent Private Finance Initiative prioritisation exercise, copies of which have been placed in the Library.
§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the development of alternative models of structuring private finance schemes. [6796]
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§ Mr. MilburnAlternative models for structuring capital investment projects under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) will be considered as part of the review of the PFI which I announced on 10 June,Official Report, columns 427–28. The results of the review will be announced towards the end of the year.