Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of new or redeveloped primary care facilities required following Lord Darzi’s independent investigation into the NHS.

The primary care estate is in mixed ownership between general practices (GPs), property companies, and integrated care boards (ICBs), and can be funded through a variety of routes. The Care Quality Commission regulates sites that provide National Health Services, including primary care facilities, with further information on their data available at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/about-us/transparency/using-cqc-data

Prior to 2016, new surgery premises were delivered either by GPs or by third parties. NHS England does not keep a register of the projects funded through these routes.

In the period 2016 to 2025, the upgrades programme delivered 90 new GP or primary care schemes, alongside several refurbishments and extensions of existing sites, at a cost of £996 million. For 2024 to 2025, the NHS Property Services and Community Health Partnership was given £15 million to adapt the existing estate, so that it could be used more intensively.

As a first step in response to the Darzi Report, in 2025/26 £102 million has been allocated for modernisation and improved utilisation in primary care. Capital budgets for 2026/27 onwards will be considered through Phase 2 of the Spending Review process and the launch of the 10-Year Health Plan in Spring 2025. This will give the necessary strategic direction and funding certainty as we shift to a Neighbourhood Health Service and treating patients closer to home. The following table shows the schemes, capital investment, and new facilities delivered from 2016 to 2025: