Written question asked by Lord Lansley (Conservative) on Wednesday, 10 December 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 15 December 2008. It was answered by Ben Bradshaw (Labour) on Tuesday, 16 December 2008 on behalf of the Department of Health.

NHS: Repairs and Maintenance

Question: (2) what (a) plans and (b) targets his Department has on reducing the maintenance backlog in the NHS; and how much is planned to be spent on reducing the backlog in the next three years.

Answer: The information is not available in the format requested.Levels of backlog maintenance categorised by risk were not collected prior to 2004-05. The information relating to 2004-05 onwards has been placed in the Library.The Department collects data on backlog maintenance annually from national health service trusts through its estates return information collection (ERIC). These data have not been amended centrally and therefore their accuracy is the responsibility of the contributing NHS organisations.NHS organisations are locally responsible for the provision and maintenance of their facilities. This includes planning and investment to reduce backlog maintenance.

Secondary information