Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of regional inequalities of access to GP appointments.

We are committed to improving capacity and access to local services across the country. Integrated care boards (ICBs) and general practices (GPs) have a statutory duty to ensure sufficient provision of medical services, tailored to the needs of their local populations, accounting for factors like population growth, deprivation, and demographic change.

While GPs operate as independent contractors, they are held to nationally agreed standards under the GP Contract, which is reviewed and improved annually. The 2024/25 contract is backed by the largest increase in GP funding in years, specifically an £889 million uplift. This investment supports key reforms to improve access across the country, including a new requirement for practices to offer online appointment requests throughout core opening hours.

We will continue working closely with ICBs to monitor and address variations in access, so that every patient can get the care they need, when they need it.