To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will give his approval for a new eye hospital for the Southampton and South West Hampshire health district, the details of which have been submitted to his Department.

The Department is responsible for giving approval in principle, within delegated limits, to any scheme which starts a cycle of project development with a total works cost of over £10 million. The total cost of the proposed relocation plan for the Southampton eye hospital is, I understand, around £4 million and therefore not subject to departmental approval.