Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support (a) GP surgeries, (b) dentists, (c) pharmacies and (d) care homes in rural areas to tackle workforce pressures, in the context of changes to the level of employer National Insurance contributions at the Autumn Budget 2024.

We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, and this enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. The employer National Insurance rise will be implemented April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year in due course.