Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the current Integrated Care Board (ICB)-led funding model in supporting the expansion of GP surgeries in areas with rapidly growing populations.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for assessing the requirement for the physical expansion of general practice premises to manage additional patient registrations. ICBs will also undertake assessments of housing plans and develop strategic plans to manage new populations and registered patients. Under this assessment, applications may be made via the planning authority to secure capital funding to mitigate the impact of new residents and patient registrations.

Discussions about developer contributions should take place as early as possible in the planning process. Developer contributions are negotiated and agreed between planning authorities and developers on a case-by-case basis, prior to planning permission being granted. Further detail is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/planning-obligations

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England are continuing to work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to assess and improve the developer contribution process, to ensure health is appropriately considered and supported.