Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to increase the number of GPs in South East London.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government committed to recruiting over 1,000 recently qualified general practitioners (GPs) in primary care networks (PCNs) through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) over 2024/25, as part of an initiative to secure the future pipeline of GPs. This funding has been continued into 2025/26.
Data on the number of recently qualified GPs for which PCNs are claiming reimbursement via the ARRS show that since 1 October 2024, over 2,000 GPs were recruited through the scheme. Several changes have been made to increase the flexibility of the ARRS in 2025/26. This includes GPs and practice nurses included in the main ARRS funding pot, an uplift of the maximum reimbursable rate for GPs in the scheme, and no caps on the number of GPs that can be employed through the scheme.
Thanks to new flexibilities under the ARRS, South East London general practices have grown the number of GPs across South East London by approximately 40 working time equivalent between July 2024 and July 2025, utilising the funding offered through this scheme to bring South East London in line with the London average of GPs per 10,000 registered population.
NHS South East London has work programmes in place to improve recruitment and retention and has commissioned a package of recruitment and retention support from the South East London Workforce Development Hub, a training hub for general practice.
We are investing an additional £1,092 million in general practice to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade. The 8.9% boost to the GP contract in 2025/26 is faster than the 5.8% growth to the NHS budget overall.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure areas with high levels of housebuilding have adequate GP capacity.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service has a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient medical services, including general practice (GP), in each local area. It should take account of population growth and demographic changes. Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning, namely planning, securing, and monitoring, GP services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England.
Local planning authorities are responsible for negotiating and agreeing developer contributions to support necessary associated infrastructure when new housing developments are built, including GP practices. At a national level, we continue to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure all new and existing developments have an adequate level of healthcare infrastructure for the community.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has a target of number of registered patients per GP.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Each general practice is required to provide services to meet the reasonable needs of their patients. There is no NHS England recommendation for how many patients a general practitioner (GP) should have assigned, or the ratio of GPs or other practice staff to patients. The demands each patient places on their general practice are different and can be affected by many different factors, including rurality and patient demographics. It is necessary to consider the workforce for each practice as a whole; not only GPs but also the range of health professionals available who are able to respond to the needs of their patients.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of the consultation entitled NHS Pension Scheme: proposed amendments for April 2025, published on 10 December 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department launched the consultation ‘NHS Pension Scheme: proposed amendments for April 2025’ on GOV.UK on 10 December 2024, with more information available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-pension-scheme-proposed-amendments-for-april-2025
As per the Government’s Publishing Accessible Documents guidance, the consultation document is published in HTML format to make it easier to read and to find. The digital survey for users to respond to the consultation is also hosted on an accessible platform. The draft regulations which accompany the consultation are lengthy and technical in nature, and so these are published as a PDF to preserve formatting and technical content. Users of assistive technology (such as screen readers) can request a copy of the draft regulations in an accessible format by emailing publications@dhsc.gov.uk.
Users who have queries on the consultation or require an alternative format can also contact nhspsconsultations@dhsc.gov.uk.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of the consultation on Tackling modern slavery in NHS procurement: proposed regulations and guidance, published on 21 November 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The consultation document is available in an accessible format, on the GOV.UK website, at the following link:
It is alongside a digital survey, also hosted on an accessible platform, for users to respond to the consultation.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of the Change.NHS.UK consultation, published on 24 October 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 21 October we launched the biggest ever national conversation on the future of the National Health Service. We are putting the public and staff at the centre of the policy making process. We have designed this engagement to make sure as many people as possible from all communities and backgrounds are supported to contribute their views. This is being done through the change.NHS.UK website, and through online and in-person events across England.
The change.NHS.UK website provides a variety of formats and ways to respond, for a range of accessibility needs. This includes British Sign Language (BSL) and easy-read formats of the surveys, and the option to respond by post, email, telephone, or BSL video. There is a dedicated accessibility page on the website that signposts to these formats and the alternative ways to respond, as well as contact details for any further support. We were made aware of some digital accessibility issues on the website, and the majority of the issues are now resolved. Further detail is set out in the accessibility statement on the change.NHS.UK website.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of running a public health campaign raising awareness of cardiac risk in young people.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government is committed to improving access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. Following the depletion of the existing AED fund, launched in in September 2023, the Government approved a further £500,000 in August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the fund.
The Department selected a joint bid from Smarter Society as its independent partners to manage grant applications. Smarter Society has reviewed funding applications against requirements specified by the Department. These requirements are to ensure that resources are allocated to where there is the greatest need, for example remote communities with extended ambulance response times, places with high footfall and high population densities, hotspots for cardiac arrest, including sporting venues and venues with vulnerable people, and deprived areas.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support individuals with epilepsy whose condition is not well-controlled by existing therapies; and what funding his Department has allocated to support research in this area.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
We want a society where every person, including those with long-term conditions such as epilepsy, receives high-quality, compassionate continuity of care, with their families and carers supported. We will change the National Health Service so that it becomes not just a sickness service, but one able to prevent ill health in the first place. This will help us be better prepared for the change in the nature of disease and allow our services to focus more on the management of chronic, long-term conditions, including epilepsy.
At the national level, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with epilepsy, including the RightCare Epilepsy Toolkit, and the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology.
The Department funds research into epilepsy via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR spent almost £19 million on 46 epilepsy research projects in the five years from April 2019 to March 2024. Additionally, over this period, more than 9,500 people were enabled to participate in epilepsy research by the NIHR Clinical Research Network, now the NIHR Research Delivery Network.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including epilepsy. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
The NIHR also works closely with other Government funders, including UK Research and Innovation, which is funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and includes the Medical Research Council, to fund research into epilepsy to improve treatments and prevent poor health outcomes for patients.