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 (a) practice nurses and (b) healthcare assistants working in general practice who have been paid Statutory Sick Pay whilst they have been self-isolating with covid-19 symptoms.

No formal assessment has been made of the number of practice nurses and healthcare assistants working in general practice who have been paid Statutory Sick Pay. NHS England and NHS Improvement have committed to maintain general practitioner (GP) practice income during the outbreak. Therefore, they have advised that GP practice staff who are shielding because they are at the highest clinical risk from COVID-19 should continue to receive full pay. Staff within GP practices should also be encouraged and supported to work remotely where they are able to do so.