Committee publication · Correspondence · 13 July 2026
Joint Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care and the Chief Executive Office at the National Health Service relating to the Publication of the New Hospital Programme Annual Report 2025 to 2026, 8 July 2026
Summary
Joint letter from the DHSC Permanent Secretary and NHS Chief Executive notifying Parliament's Public Accounts Committee of the publication of the New Hospital Programme's first annual report covering 2025–26. The report documents progress across schemes at different delivery stages, establishes governance improvements, and outlines challenges including market capacity constraints and funding alignment.
Key findings
- First annual report of the New Hospital Programme published, covering 2025/26 financial year and establishing baseline for future reporting
- Progress made across schemes at different development and delivery stages, aligned with the phased Plan for Implementation from January 2025
- Key programme-wide enablers developed including Hospital 2.0 (standardised hospital design), commercial framework, and Health Delivery Partnership to strengthen consistency and productivity
- Significant challenges identified: scheme-specific delivery obstacles, system reform requirements, market capacity constraints, and need to align delivery with available funding and value-for-money
- Seven RAAC replacement schemes identified as priority; planned activity outlined for 2026/27 including business case development, enabling works, and construction
Tone
ProceduralTopics
infrastructurepublic-financehealthcaregovernance
Key actors
Samantha Jones, Sir James Mackey, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Karin Smyth, Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, Public Accounts Committee, National Audit Office
Notable line
“The report also sets out the challenges associated with delivering a major, long-term infrastructure programme of this scale.”
Key Quotes
“The annual report provides an account of progress across the programme during the 2025/26 financial year and establishes a baseline for future annual reporting.”
“The report has been produced in response to recent scrutiny by the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee.”
“These include scheme-specific delivery challenges, wider system reform, market capacity constraints and the need to ensure delivery remains aligned with available funding and value-for-money considerations.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗