Laing O'Rourke has begun work to fix work botched by Carillion

carillion royal liverpool 5

Health minister Stephen Hammond has said he is expecting to find out soon how much the work to complete the Liverpool hospital left half built by Carillion will cost.

Answering a written question from Dame Louise Ellman, who is the local MP for the Royal Liverpool hospital, Hammond said the government had promised to support the NHS trust responsible for the project in the wake of Carillion going under.

He added: "The Trust is currently working closely with the replacement contractor Laing O’Rourke and external advisers in undertaking a fully costed assessment of all the works needed to complete the new Royal Liverpool hospital.

"This assessment will be set out in a business case, which the trust intends to submit to NHS Improvement and the department for approval soon."

He said NHS Improvement – the organisation responsible for overseeing trusts – and the department were liaising closely with the trust to ensure that the hospital was completed as soon as is possible.

But asked whether the government would launch an investigation into the problem-plagued project, Hammond failed to answer.

Ellman’s question came after she and Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson took to Twitter earlier this month to demand an inquiry into why so many repairs were having to be carried out.