Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase weekend and late night access to GP services.

The Government is committed to improving access to general practitioner (GP) services.

The Prime Minister’s £50 million Challenge Fund is currently improving GP services for millions of patients across England. This includes pilot sites offering evening and weekend appointments, as well as better use of technology.

Last September the Prime Minister announced £100 million to fund a second wave of pilots in 2015/16 and NHS England invited practices to bid for funding. Successful bids are expected to be announced shortly.