星空传媒

Government spending on critical maintenance for health, education and justice estates will rise to more than 拢10bn a year by 2034/35, the chancellor鈥檚 deputy has announced.

Announcing the release of the long-anticipated 10-year infrastructure strategy in parliament this afternoon, Darren Jones set out the government鈥檚 plans for spending a total 拢752bn on infrastructure investment over the period.

The chief secretary to the Treasury said 拢9bn would be allocated to critical maintenance in the 2025/26 financial year, rising in subsequent years.

Roughly 拢6bn a year will be spent on health to make hospitals safer and improve working conditions, with RAAC concrete to be eliminate and facilities modernised.

Investment in school and college maintenance will stand at almost 拢3bn annually by 2034/35, rising from 拢2.4bn in 2025/26.

Meanwhile, while justice will receive at least 拢600m each year from 2026/27 to 2034/35 to improve the safety and security of prisons and enhance court facilities, rising from 拢500m in 2025/26.

鈥淔rom the development of the railways to the 2012 Olympic Games, we have a proud history in Britain of innovating, developing and building this high quality infrastructure but the reality is that we have now fallen behind many of our international competitors,鈥� the Jones told a sparsely attended House of Commons chamber. 

鈥淭oo many investors now question our intentions and our capabilities. When we say we will build something, they will often ask if we will and if we can. That is because for too long, the party opposite cut capital investment.

鈥淭hey promised major projects one minute and then abandoned them the next and they left the public estate to crumble for 14 long years, from the roads we drive on to the schools we send our children to, wasted money, time and effort, declining productivity and wages and stagnant growth, and an increasing belief that politics can鈥檛 change things for the better, 鈥�

The 10-year strategy, which is set to be updated every two years, also confirmed a number of planned investments that were announced earlier this week.

These include 拢1bn for maintenance on key transport infrastructure, including crumbling bridges, flyovers and crossings, 拢590m to start work on the Lower Thames Crossing and 拢16bn of investment in homes through a new housing bank.

But Jones said that a detailed project pipeline would not be published alongside the infrastructure strategy and would instead be coming out in mid-July. He said this was because the Treasury 鈥渨anted to integrate the data from the spending review last week鈥�.

He said the pipeline would be published on a dedicated and 鈥渋nteractive鈥� digital dashboard, which will be updated bi-annually by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.

The online portal, he said, would 鈥減rovide up to date information about what we will build when we will build it and where we will build it, giving industry and investors the confidence they need to invest in highly skilled jobs in every part of the country鈥�.

It will include details on projects costing 拢25m or more for economic infrastructure or 拢15m or more for social infrastructure. Where projects do not meet this threshold, they might be represented as part of a programme of smaller projects.

It will contain data on project timelines, size, funding status, location and procurement routes, and will include publicly funded and financed infrastructure projects as well as projects led by regulated and private sector infrastructure providers.

The strategy document, published by the Treasury this afternoon, said the pipeline at launch would represent a post-spending review 鈥渟napshot鈥�  and would be expanded and developed over time.

Jones also announced that the government was bringing together economic and social infrastructure into the same strategy and that stakeholders would therefore be expected 鈥渢o think more strategically about the communities they are creating and not just the specific piece of infrastructure they are building鈥�. 

>> Read more: Why the government is looking to the Thames Tideway project for ways to fund 拢14.2bn Sizewell C

>> What will the Treasury鈥檚 Green Book review mean for construction? 

>> Industry demands 鈥榗larity, certainty and reality鈥� from infrastructure strategy as government poised to announce 拢750bn blueprint

鈥淔or example, as part of our review of the green book we have decided to pilot place based business cases which will ensure that there is proper coordination between departments when bidding for funding from the Treasury,鈥� he continued.

The chief secretary to the Treasury also said the government would 鈥渨ork with industry to explore the targeted use of new public private partnerships where they can be shown to deliver value for money for the taxpayer鈥� adding that any new model would 鈥渓earn the lessons from the past to secure value for money into the future鈥�.

Jones said that, alongside the modern industrial strategy, due to be published next month, the infrastructure strategy would 鈥減rovide confidence and certainty in Britain as an investment destination鈥�.