Mr. Bernard Gloster:

As I understand it, the paediatric hospital development board has advised the committee in correspondence this week that the latest date from BAM is towards the end of November. I am not sure whether it intends to revise that further.

I can only rely on it giving us a programme and making sure that programme is compliant, and the only people who can make it compliant are in BAM. I am more confident about this. I have been looking for several months for CHI to get early access to the site so it can start to do some of the commissioning preparation. However, I am in the hands of BAM - it owns the site; I do not - and I am told that early access will be possible from mid- or late November. However, the simple reality and shame of it is that work on a building that needs a small percentage of work to bring it to completion has dragged on to this extent. I do not know whether the date of 25 November will change. I would regret it if it does, but I am very much in the hands of the contractor.