Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 September 2021
1259. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health if the National Maternity Hospital project board is required to comply with the updated Public Spending Code lifecycle by submitting three separate business cases, preliminary, intermediate and final; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42252/21]
View answer1260. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health the position the business case submitted to his Department by the National Maternity Hospital project board in December 2020 currently lies in relation to the Public Spending Code life cycle decision making process; if the National Maternity Hospital business case submitted in December 2020 represents a preliminary business case seeking approval in principle, a detailed business case for pre-tender approval or a final business case for approval to proceed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42253/21]
View answer1261. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health if the National Maternity Hospital business case has been progressed since December 2020; if so, the way in which it has been progressed in relation to the Public Spending Code; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42254/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1259, 1260 and 1261 together.
A business case for the national maternity hospital (NMH) relocation project was submitted to the Department of Health by the NMH Project Board in December 2020. This provided a comprehensive overview of the proposed project. However, as a project initiated prior to the updated Public Spending Code (PSC), the Project Board is undertaking additional work to ensure full compliance with the new PSC. It will be submitted to the Department, as Approving Authority, and to Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (D/PER) for technical review in due course.
The PSC is designed to ensure that investment decisions are underpinned by a clear policy rationale and that costs are well understood. In 2019, the PSC was updated and introduced a new project lifecycle, tightening the arrangements for project decision-making, and clarifying the roles of the parties involved, including the responsibilities for Sponsoring Agencies and Approving Authorities.
All capital development proposals must progress through a number of approval stages, in line with the new lifecycle approach of the updated PSC, including detailed appraisal, planning, design and procurement before a firm timeline or funding requirement can be established.
The specific requirements that must be included in a business case at the various stages of the PSC, and the stages at which these are to be published, are detailed at https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/public-spending-code/
Whilst the NMH project pre-dates the updated PSC requirements, the PSC requires that so-called “legacy projects” undergo the same level of scrutiny as new proposals.
The business case for the relocation of the NMH to Elm Park is well advanced, but is being updated to ensure that it fully complies with all elements required under the updated PSC and by the National Investment Office in D/PER.
Once the business case has been updated, it will be subject to review in line with the requirements under Decision Gates 1 and 2 of the PSC. This approach is consistent with legacy projects across other areas of Government.
The Project Board has been working on updating these requirements and an updated business case is expected by the Department in the coming weeks.
If the technical review considers the business case to be in compliance with the PSC, the project proposal will be submitted to Government for approval-in-principle to progress to the next stage of the PSC. If approved-in-principle is granted to the business case, the project can move to the preparation of tender documents in line with EU Law and deployment of a tendering strategy.
