Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department collects data to assess the performance of GPs in managing obesity in primary care.

There is an indicator in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) related to general practices holding a register of obese patients. The contractor establishes and maintains a register of patients aged 18 years and over who have presented with a Body Mass Index of over 30 in the preceding 12 months. These indicators do not relate to performance of general practices in dealing with obesity.

The QOF is a voluntary annual reward and incentive programme for all general practice surgeries in England, detailing practice achievement results. Prevalence data on 21 conditions is recorded and can be broken down sub-nationally to regional and general practice level. Information is voluntarily provided by 95.4% of general practices in England.

QOF is part of the General Medical Services contracting arrangements. There may be similar schemes developed locally for Personal Medical Services (PMS) and Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) practices. However, as PMS and APMS are locally negotiated contracts, these are a matter for agreement between NHS England and the contractor concerned.