To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average time between the submission of plans for a major hospital redevelopment or development programme to his Department and Her Majesty's Treasury and their formal approval in part or whole, based upon the last 20 such cases.

Departmental approval in principle is required for all schemes with works costs of over £5 million. Treasury approval is required for schemes in excess of £10 million and for those which start a cycle of development of over £25 million in total.Each scheme needs to be considered on its merits. Fourteen of the 21 schemes given approval in principle in the last two financial years were cleared within 12 months. Seven of these were cleared within about six months. The longest took approximately 21 months. The time taken can be greatly affected by the quality of the initial submission, the complexity of the scheme and the issues raised. In most cases the process involves detailed discussion with the health authority and revisions to the submissions.