Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of Primary Care Networks that have borrowed funding from their member GP practices to pay staff costs as a result of the time taken for payment under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.

The Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) currently offers 15 roles to assist general practices provide patient care and is designed to be used solely for reimbursing the salaries and on-costs of roles included in the Scheme.

As a new scheme, the ARRS is monitored to assess progress in recruiting staff and feedback is sought on aspects of administering the scheme from Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and the constituent general practitioner (GP) practices. NHS England and NHS Improvement committed to undertake a review of the ARRS by 2023, which will consider feedback received on the Scheme. As GP practices and PCNs are independent businesses, the Government does not have access to data concerning the financial decisions taken at individual practice or PCN level. PCNs experiencing issues with the Scheme should consult the local clinical commissioning group.