Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health of 15 March 2017, Official Report, column 144WH, if the proposed creation of super-hubs in rural areas means the closure of local practice buildings to be replaced with new larger buildings.

Hubs are not about surgery closures — that has never been this Government's policy intention and we are supporting general practice with a 14% real terms increase in funding. Many general practices are already working together to support larger populations and in the future there will be even more opportunities for collaboration so that practices can work at scale when necessary, while maintaining their location within communities and relationships with patients.