To ask the Minister of Health to detail the current timeframe for the approval of Health and Social Trust business cases for capital works; and how many are currently awaiting approval.

Only business cases for capital works from the HSC Trusts that are above the appropriate delegated limits are approved by my Department. Business cases above the Department’s delegated limit, or are considered novel or contentious, need approval by the Department of Finance.

It can take up to 6 months to approve a business case after it has been submitted to the Department, in order to adequately address queries from advisors and ensure a robust and adequate case has been made, and an additional 3 months if DoF approval is required. However, there are no set time limits to the approvals process as each case is looked at on its own merits.

My Department currently has 8 active capital business cases from the HSC Trusts at various stages of the approval process.