1. These questions refer to North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust's plans to develop a single site hospital at Wynyard Park, to replace both the existing University Hospital of North Tees and the University Hospital of Hartlepool.
2. NHS foundation trusts have access to private sector and public sector financing for capital projects, such as hospital schemes. There is no normal way of financing such schemes. Private Finance Initiatives are only approved if the trust is able to demonstrate there is a clear value for money case compared with a publicly procured alternative.
3. North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust's outline business case for the scheme contained a projected capital cost of £464 million with 93% of this value to be funded through Public Dividend Capital, and the remainder through an equity contribution from the developer.
4. Government approval for this scheme was initially granted in March 2010. It was therefore considered as part of the cross-Government review of spending decisions between 1 lanuary and the general election. When considered alongside similar schemes at a similar stage of development, other schemes were considered to be more urgent, and so Government approval for the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust's scheme was cancelled.
5. We understand that the trust is currently reappraising the available options for this scheme, including the possible use of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The trust has not yet submitted an updated business case to the Government for approval.