§ Sir Paul BeresfordTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to extend the private finance initiative programme. [177018]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 7 June 2004]: The private finance initiative (PFI) is helping to deliver the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the national health service. Of the 107 PFI hospital schemes announced since 1997, 38 are already operational and a further 22 are under construction.
In January 2004, I announced the next prioritisation round. This called for expressions of interest from strategic health authorities; trusts submitted their strategic outline cases in April. I expect to make a further announcement in the summer.