Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards their 2019 target to increase GP numbers by 6,000 by 2024–25; and whether they expect to meet this target.

NHS England and Health Education England are working with the profession to increase the general practice workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors are leaving the profession, and encourage them to return to practice. As of March 2021, there were 536 more full time equivalent (FTE) doctors and 2,237 more FTE primary care professionals, such as physiotherapists, social prescribers and pharmacists, working in general practice compared to March 2019. The highest ever number of doctors accepted a place in general practitioner specialty training in 2020/21 and from 2021, the Government has committed to increasing the number of training places to 4,000 a year.