Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of giving the responsibility for the allocation of GP surgeries to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

There are currently no plans for assessing whether the responsibility of the allocation of general practice surgeries should fall to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Upper-tier local authorities currently have a role in improving health and influencing health and care strategies through participation in integrated care partnerships (ICPs) and integrated care boards (ICBs). ICBs are National Health Service organisations responsible for planning health services for their local population, including Primary Medical Services. ICBs are legally required to have local government representation on their board. Each integrated care system (ICS) includes an ICP, formed of NHS organisations and upper-tier local authorities, which is responsible for developing an integrated care strategy. The ICB works to deliver this through developing a joint plan with partner local authorities, managing the NHS budget, and arranging for the provision of health services in the ICS area.

The healthcare needs of local populations affect the funding which practices receive. Global sum payments for general practice contractors are based on a weighted sum for every person registered with the practice, using the Carr-Hill formula to estimate the practices’ workload.