Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to increase the level of funding allocated for staffing in GP practices.

General practitioner (GP) practices are independent businesses and best placed to make the decisions about staffing numbers and skill mix to meet the needs of their patients. Funding for staffing is not allocated separately but forms part of a practice’s core funding allocation.

The GP Forward View, published by NHS England on 21 April 2016, sets a commitment to increase overall funding for general practice by £2.4 billion a year by 2020/21. This includes core funding for practices, as well as funding for a range of national programmes to support general practice. As part of this investment, £206 million will fund a programme of measures to increase the general practice workforce.