§ Mr. RuffleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the target turnaround time is for the assessment of full business cases for computer systems of a value in448W excess of £1 million submitted by NHS hospital trusts by (a) regional offices accredited for approval of business cases up to a value of £20 million and (b) regional offices without such accreditation. [144254]
§ Mr. DenhamThe target turnaround time for the assessment by National Health Service Executive regional offices of full business cases (FBCs) for NHS trust computer systems is two months from submission of the final version of the FBC to approval. This target is contained in the indicative project timetable for smaller schemes contained in guidance to the NHS on the private finance initiative but it is applied to all FBCs for computer systems, whether or not PFI is used.
The target time applies whether a regional office is accredited or not. If a regional office is not accredited, the FBC must also be approved by NHS Executive headquarters, but the headquarters and regional office assessments of the FBC are carried out simultaneously to minimise delay.