Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to restore the balance in funding between primary and secondary care to ensure primary care has the resources to train, recruit and retain GPs.

Funding for General Practice and Primary Care Networks has increased to £11.5 billion in 2023/24.

The Government remains committed to growing the general practitioner (GP) workforce and number of doctors in general practice and is determined to deliver this as soon as possible. We are working with NHS England to increase the GP workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice.

NHS England has made available several retention schemes available to boost the general practice workforce. This includes the GP Retention Scheme, the GP Retention Fund, the National GP Induction and Refresher, the Locum Support Scheme, and the Supporting Mentors Scheme.

To boost recruitment, we have increased the number of GP training places. Last year, we saw 4,032 doctors accepting a place on GP training, up from 2,671 in 2014. The number of training places will rise to 6,000 by 2031/32, with the first 500 new places available from September 2025.