Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Royal College of General Practitioners report entitled Fit for the Future GP Pressures 2023, published in March 2023, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of additional funding for premises upgrades in general practice.

Capital funding for primary care is allocated on a regional basis using a weighted population approach that considers local populations growing annually. From 2022/23, a substantial proportion of primary care business as usual estates and general practice (GP) IT capital is included within integrated care system (ICS) operational capital funding. This allows systems to take a more cohesive approach to capital across all organisations within that system. Additional funding beyond this would be subject to a future Spending Review.

Individual decisions around the prioritisation of capital funding for health facilities are largely delegated to local areas or individual GPs. The local ICS would need to identify options and explore what potential there may be for upgraded health facilities. The commissioning body will need to assess any revenue implications and pressures on the overall primary care budget that derive from premises upgrades, and from reimbursing GP contract holders’ premises costs.