Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of (1) the number of GPs seeking employment, and (2) the average length of time taken by a GP to find employment, in England; and what steps they are taking to ensure sufficient provision of GPs in England.

NHS England does not collect systematic data on the future intentions of any groups of doctors once they have completed specialty training. While many newly qualified general practitioners (GPs) will subsequently take roles in GPs, others will contribute to the National Health Service in different ways, or may choose to work elsewhere.

NHS England publishes analysis on the number of doctors who can be tracked from the GP training dataset to the data provided by GPs on their substantive workforce, and how long this takes. Further information, and the most recent data, is available on the NHS Digital website, in an online only format. Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, the number of GPs appointed to Specialty Training will rise to 6,000 per annum by 2031/2032.