Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has considered the potential merits of a national bulk buying energy contract for GP practices in England.

General practices (GPs) are run by independent contractors and are commissioned by integrated care boards to provide National Health Services primary medical services. Decisions around energy contracts are devolved to individual practices.

Practices’ arrangements for utilities. such as gas and electricity, vary depending on the basis or terms of each practice’s occupation of its premises. For example, some GPs have flexibility to choose energy contracts, whereas others lease premises inclusive of utilities, or pay a service charge including energy costs, where the landlord or property manager determines the energy suppliers.

Where GPs occupy NHS owned estate, GPs may benefit from any centralised energy purchasing initiatives the Government has put in place, such as Supply of Energy 2.