Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the public purse was of carrying out the GP Patient Survey in each of the last three years.

The GP Patient Survey is conducted by an independent contractor on behalf of NHS England. The current contract (2016-19) is being delivered by Ipsos MORI, as was the previous contract (2013-16). It is not appropriate to provide the precise costs paid to the survey provider, as this is commercially sensitive information. Over the contract period 2013-16, the budget of the GP Patient Survey was approximately £4 million per year. For the current contract, which began in July 2016, the budget is approximately £3.5 million per year.