Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review the eligibility criteria of the GP reimbursement scheme during the 2026/27 financial year to allow for reimbursement of locum GP sessions.

The Department and NHS England continue to monitor the implementation and utilisation of the practice level general practice (GP) reimbursement scheme and consider feedback from practices, including those in deprived areas, and stakeholders for any potential changes to the scheme.

We have not undertaken a specific assessment of the impact of restricting reimbursement to salaried GP arrangements on smaller practices or practices serving deprived communities. The scheme is available to all practices in England and was designed to support increased GP capacity across all practices and improve access for patients.