Both schemes given red ratings by infrastructure body
The New Hospitals Programme is ‘unachievable’ in its current form, according to the government’s top infrastructure advisor.
The £20bn scheme, which was first announced under former prime minister Boris Johnson, has been given a ‘red’ rating by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) in its latest review of the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).
Based on data from last March, before Labour took office, the latest annual review covers 227 projects, of which 68 are infrastructure and construction schemes.
This subset of projects has a whole life cost of £374bn. The vast majority of infrastructure and construction schemes (48) were ranked ‘amber’, with just 10 ranked ‘green’ and seven ranked ‘red’, including the first phase of HS2 and the New Hospitals Programme.
According to the IPA, a red rating means that “successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable”.
It means that the project in question has “major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery”, which are not currently “manageable or resolvable”.
“The project may need re-scoping and/or its overall viability reassessed,” it said.
According to reports by the BBC, health secretary Wes Streeting will make an announcement on the New Hospitals Programme this week, in which he will set out a revised timetable for the scheme.
As many as 40 hospital projects are meant to be delivered as part of the programme and the new Labour government has committed to delivering them, although Streeting said last September that it would likely be done over a “longer time frame”.
HS2 is currently undergoing a ”whole programme reset” as ministers attempt to get a grip on the scheme, which has been beset by cost and schedule overruns.
> Also read: Government’s top infrastructure advisor ‘never been convinced’ by HS2 governance structure
In her foreword to the IPA’s report, Georgia Gould, parliamentary secretary for the Cabinet Office, confirmed that the government would publish its 10-year national infrastructure strategy in the spring.
“This will set out our approach to core economic infrastructure like transport and energy, and for the first time will profile our social infrastructure plans for the schools and hospitals which underpin a successful modern economy,” she said.
Gould also stressed that the construction industry needed to “embrace new ways of doing things” and “seize the opportunities that come with a digital revolution”.
“At a time of rising prices, particularly in construction, data analytics and AI are important tools to deliver value for money for the taxpayer,” she said.
“I am pleased to see the progress made by the IPA in this space, allowing us to modernise and keep up with the fast moving technological landscape.”
The IPA is soon set to be merged with the National Infrastructure Commission, to create the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.
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