Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of general practice staff that received the 2024 pay increase in full.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
For 2024/25, we accepted the recommendations of the Doctors' and Dentists' Pay Review Body in full, and the pay element of the GP Contract was uplifted by 6% on a consolidated basis, through an increase of 4% on top of the 2% interim uplift in April, to provide practices with the funding to uplift general practice (GP) partner, salaried GP, and other salaried staff pay by 6%. The uplift is backdated to April 2024, and it was our expectation that this funding should be passed on to all salaried GP staff.
As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, it is for practices to determine uplifts in pay for their employees within the agreed GP Contract funding envelope. The Department does not centrally hold information on pay for salaried staff in GPs, nor could we provide a breakdown by gender. The data in the annual GP Earnings and Expenses Estimates is based on partner, contractor, and GP tax returns. Further information on the GP Earnings and Expenses Estimates is available at the following link:
For 2025/26, we are investing an additional £889 million through the GP Contract to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion. This is the biggest increase in over a decade. The 7.2% cash growth, estimated to be 4.8% of real growth on overall 2024/25 contract costs, on the contract funding envelope includes funding for an assumed increase in salaries of 2.8% in 2025/26. Once the Department has received the recommendations for GPs for 2025/26 from the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Renumeration, it will be considered in the usual way.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department plans to have with general practice nursing staff on the development of the general practice contract for 2026-27.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As in previous years, the Department will engage with a range of stakeholders and will consult with the profession on the GP Contract for 2026/27. More details will be communicated in due course.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of funding for the 2025-26 general practice contract in England will be allocated to the general practice nursing workforce.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We hugely value the critical role that general practice (GP) nurses play and are determined to address the issues they face by shifting the focus of the National Health Service beyond hospitals and into the community.
GPs are independent businesses, providing GP services to their local populations under an NHS contract. Practices have autonomy in deciding how to provide services, including their workforce mix, in order to deliver their contracts.
We are investing an additional £889 million through the GP Contract to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade.
The investment includes funding for an assumed increase in GP staff salaries of 2.8% in 2025/26. Once the Department has received the recommendations for GPs for 2025/26 from the independent Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Renumeration, it will be considered in the usual way.
As self-employed contractors to the NHS, it is for practices to determine uplifts in pay for their employees within the agreed GP Contract funding envelope.
The contract changes for 2025/26 also include increased flexibilities for the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, to allow primary care networks to better respond to local workforce needs. Practice nurses have also been added to the scheme, with no restrictions on the numbers or type of staff able to be funded through the scheme.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of female staff working in general practice not receiving the 2024 pay increase in full.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
For 2024/25, we accepted the recommendations of the Doctors' and Dentists' Pay Review Body in full, and the pay element of the GP Contract was uplifted by 6% on a consolidated basis, through an increase of 4% on top of the 2% interim uplift in April, to provide practices with the funding to uplift general practice (GP) partner, salaried GP, and other salaried staff pay by 6%. The uplift is backdated to April 2024, and it was our expectation that this funding should be passed on to all salaried GP staff.
As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, it is for practices to determine uplifts in pay for their employees within the agreed GP Contract funding envelope. The Department does not centrally hold information on pay for salaried staff in GPs, nor could we provide a breakdown by gender. The data in the annual GP Earnings and Expenses Estimates is based on partner, contractor, and GP tax returns. Further information on the GP Earnings and Expenses Estimates is available at the following link:
For 2025/26, we are investing an additional £889 million through the GP Contract to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion. This is the biggest increase in over a decade. The 7.2% cash growth, estimated to be 4.8% of real growth on overall 2024/25 contract costs, on the contract funding envelope includes funding for an assumed increase in salaries of 2.8% in 2025/26. Once the Department has received the recommendations for GPs for 2025/26 from the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Renumeration, it will be considered in the usual way.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2024 to Question 9621 on Department of Health and Social Care: Ministers' Private Offices, how much was spent on (a) new furniture and fittings and (b) other refurbishment of Ministerial offices in his Department between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024; and on what items this was spent.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department spent £140,000 in 2023 to remove a suite of individual ministerial offices and replace these with a flexible co-working space. The Department spent £321,000 between January and 4 July 2024 to build new ministerial offices.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many government procurement cards were held by staff within (a) his core Department and (b) executive agencies of his Department at the end of calendar years (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In relation to the number of Government procurement cards held by staff within the core Department, I refer the Hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury to the answer given on 18 January 2024 to Question PQ8714.
In addition, the following table shows the number of cards held by the Department’s two executive agencies, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), in 2022 and 2023:
Executive agency | 2022 | 2023 |
UKHSA | 120 | 80 |
MHRA | 194 | 182 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on government procurement card purchases (a) above and (b) below £500 net of refunded payments in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department publishes procurement card transactions of a value greater than £500, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dh-spending-over-500
The following table shows the total spend, net of refunds, for transactions lower than £500, for 2022 and 2023:
| 2022 | 2023 |
Net total payments | £156,905.67 | £162,203.92 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Minister without Portfolio's article of 12 May 2024 in The Sunday Telegraph, when her Department is expected to terminate its contract with the Prince's Trust, order reference C191156; and whether a notice period is required under the provisions of clause 10.2.2 of that contract.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the contract awarded by her Department to Ethypharm UK Ltd on 27 January 2022 for the storage and management of the Department's Naloxone buffer stock, how many packs of Naloxone were distributed from the buffer stock for use by patients in the UK in the (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23, and (c) 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
No packs of naloxone were distributed from the buffer stock for use by patients, in the financial years 2021/22, 2022/23, or 2023/24. The buffer stock is maintained in case of an unprecedented demand for naloxone arising, that would exceed the capacity of business-as-usual stock, for instance due to an incident of unusually harmful opioids. Such an incident has not arisen to date. The Government remains committed to maintaining this vital precautionary measure, and would authorise the release of buffer stock supplies when needed.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to table 15 of the Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, HC 33, published on 25 January 2024, what the distance travelled on domestic flights was in 2021-22.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The figure reported in the Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23, showing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with domestic air travel in 2021/22, includes domestic flights made by:
- the Department;
- the Care Quality Commission;
- NHS England;
- NHS Resolution;
- the Health Research Authority;
- NHS Counter Fraud Authority;
- NHS Business Services Authority;
- the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency;
- the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence;
- the UK Health Security Agency;
- and the former NHS Digital and Health Education England, which are both now merged with NHS England.
The distance travelled by domestic flights in 2021-22 for these bodies was 185,415 kilometres.