Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of how many GP practices will be required to reduce patient services due to the phased withdrawal of the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee; what estimate he has made of how many GP practices he expects will be required to close for the same reason; what steps his Department has taken to support GP practices experiencing savings to their budgets as a consequence of that withdrawal; and what plans his Department has to revise the funding formula for postgraduate students.

Since April 2013, NHS England has been responsible for ensuring the provision of primary care services in England. NHS England is not aware of any that have closed as a result of the withdrawal of the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG) and has not estimated whether any will have to reduce services.

The funding released from MPIG will be reinvested into the basic payments made to all General Medical Services practices. For the majority of practices, there will be a net gain in practice income. The phasing of these changes over seven years will allow the minority of practices that lose funding to adjust gradually to the reduction in payments and NHS England is supporting the most affected practices to adjust to the changes.

The Carr-Hill formula, which is used to determine allocations to general practitioner practices, is currently under review by NHS England.