Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the recruitment and integration of staff in GP practices in (a) the Northwest, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Stockport.

We have not made a formal assessment. As private contractors, general practitioners (GPs) make their own workforce plans and hiring decisions. However, we encourage recruitment of certain roles through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS). The ARRS currently offers 12 roles and those employed through the Scheme contribute to multi-disciplinary teams.

GP practices also work with community, mental health, social care, pharmacy, hospital and voluntary services in their local areas through Primary Care Networks (PCNs). PCNs build on existing primary care services and enable greater provision of personalised, coordinated and integrated health and social care closer to home.