Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to increase levels of funding for GP student placements.

The Department sets the tariff for placements and as set out in the draft workforce strategy, Facing the Facts, Shaping the Future – A draft health and care workforce strategy for England to 2027, Health Education England (HEE) will advise ministers in spring 2018 on their assessment of options for reforming undergraduate and postgraduate tariffs to better support clinical learning environments and a larger learner population; including primary care. A copy of Facing the Facts, Shaping the Future is attached.

HEE has implemented a range of improvements to increase the number of general practitioner (GP) training places to 3,250 each year. In 2017 3,157 new starters were recruited to training posts – this is the highest number of GP trainees ever.

NHS England, HEE, the British Medical Association and Royal College of General Practitioners have been working together to increase the number of medical students choosing to enter specialty GP training.