Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many additional staff will be recruited for neighbourhood health centres in the next twelve months.

At the Autumn Budget, we announced our commitment to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres (NHCs) through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments to expand and improve sites over the next three years and new-build sites opening in the medium term. The first 120 NHCs are due to be operational by 2030 and will be delivered through public private partnerships and public capital.

Nationwide coverage will take time, but we will start in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including rural towns and communities with higher deprivation levels, targeting places where healthy life expectancy is lowest and delivering healthcare closer to home for those that need it the most.

Integrated care boards will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for NHCs.

We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations, including the workforce. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in rural communities, coastal towns, or deprived inner cities. A 10 Year Workforce Plan will be published in spring 2026, which will set out action to create a workforce to deliver the 10-Year Health Plan.