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 estimate of the investment needed in additional GP capacity in (a) the Witham constituency; and (b) Essex over the next (i) five and (ii) ten years.

‘A five-year framework for GP contract reform to implement The NHS Long Term Plan’ was agreed with the British Medical Association and provides clarity on funding for practices until 2023/24. This was updated in 2020 to invest and an additional £1.5 billion to create a further 50 million general practice appointments by 2024 through increasing and diversifying the workforce.

The current framework ends in April 2024 and future funding for general practice, including to support capacity, will be considered in due course.