What were the formal dates of Scottish Government approval and Board minutes for the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital business case in 2008?

1. The documented timeline that exists: internal assessment in March 2008

The clearest timestamp in the assembled reporting is that, before the business case reached the Scottish Government’s Capital Investment Group (CIG), the OBC had been “assessed and approved by NHSGGC through its internal governance processes” in March 2008, which implies NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde board-level sign-off or equivalent internal minutes in that month ^[1].

2. Scottish Government receipt and recommendation: April 2008

The same inquiry bundle material states the Scottish Government received the business case with a recommendation for approval in April 2008, indicating formal consideration by central government occurred the month after NHSGGC’s internal assessment ^[1]. That phrasing — “with a recommendation for approval in April 2008” — signals a government-stage decision process took place in April, but the source does not quote an exact approval minute or the date the CIG formally signed off ^[1].

3. What is not in the public record cited here: no exact calendar day for ministerial approval or board minutes

None of the provided sources publish a specific calendar day for a Scottish Government formal approval minute nor reproduce the NHSGGC board minutes showing the exact date of sign-off; the reporting gives months (March and April 2008) but not day-level timestamps, so asserting a precise date would exceed the evidence in these documents ^{[1] [2]}. Other contemporary summaries (Wikipedia, children’s summary pages) note 2008 as the year the request was made but do not supply day-level approvals ^{[3] [2]}.

4. Why the granularity matters and how reporting frames it

Day-level approval and minute dates matter for legal, governance and inquiry timelines — they establish who knew what, and when — but publicly available summaries and inquiry bundles often present only month-level sequencing in background material, leaving gaps that require inspection of primary minutes or FOI releases to fill ^{[1] [4]}. The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry and related government publications have produced extensive material about the project’s later failures and reviews but the specific 2008 minute-by-minute governance record is not reproduced in the snippets provided ^{[5] [6]}.

5. Alternative readings and implicit agendas in sources

Government and inquiry documents aim to document process and chronology; advocacy outlets and political summaries emphasize failings and causal links ^{[6] [7] [8]}. The extract noting March and April 2008 comes from an inquiry document bundle — a source intended to establish a factual timeline for hearings — which reduces (but does not eliminate) the likelihood of partisan distortion in the dates cited ^[1]. Media coverage focusing on later operational failures and legal actions after opening in 2015 highlights different points in the saga and therefore does not substitute for primary governance records from 2008 ^{[9] [10]}.

6. Bottom line and where to look next for precise minutes

Based on the cited material, the firmest statements that can be made are: NHSGGC’s internal assessment/approval occurred in March 2008, and the Scottish Government received the case with a recommendation for approval in April 2008 ^[1]. The precise calendar day for Scottish Government formal approval and the exact NHSGGC board minutes date are not contained in the provided sources; obtaining those would require consulting the original NHSGGC board minutes or the Scottish Government/CIG decision papers (for which FOI or inquiry exhibit files might contain the day-level records) ^{[1] [4]}.