Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GPs were forecast to be required in England and Wales in each year since May 2010.

Health Education England (HEE) set out in its Workforce Plan for England 2015-16 its estimate of general practitioner (GP) demand from 2014 to 2020. This can be found on page 27 of the attached document. We have committed to make available 5,000 more GPs by 2020.

HEE utilised evidence from the Centre for Workforce Intelligence in-depth review of the GP workforce in England published 2014 - the link to which is provided on page 29 of the above document. This work sets out estimates of workforce supply and expected patient demand for GP services from 2011 to 2030 in a variety of scenarios, recognising the complexity of factors influencing demand and supply and the intrinsic uncertainty of the future.

Forecast figures for Wales are a matter for the Department of Health and Social Services in Wales.

The annual National Health Service General and Personal Medical Services workforce census, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, shows the numbers of GPs working in the NHS in England at 30 September each year, which is a snap shot taken at the mid-point of the financial year.

The total numbers of full-time equivalent (FTE) GPs including registrars and retainers working in the NHS in England for 2010 to 2013 are shown in the following table. The data for 30 September 2014 will be published on 25 March 2015.

Total GPs including registrars and retainers in practice between 2010 and 2013

England as at 30 September - FTE

Source: General practice workforce census

Note: From 2006 onwards GP FTE has been collected and therefore may not be fully comparable with previous years