Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help increase the number of general practitioners in practice.
NHS England and NHS Improvement and Health Education England are working with the profession to increase the general practice workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encourage them to return to practice.
The updated GP Contract Framework announced a number of new retention schemes alongside continued support for existing schemes for the general practice workforce. These schemes include the GP Retention Scheme, the International Induction Programme, the Return to Practice Programme, the Fellowship Programme, the New to Partnership Payment and Supporting Mentors Scheme. In 2020, 3,793 doctors commenced training as general practitioners and we are committed to increasing the number of training places available to 4,000 a year.