Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent estimate he has made of the daily cost of a (a) locum and (b) family GP.

The requested information is not collected centrally.

General practitioners (GPs) are independent contractors who provide primary medical services on behalf of the National Health Service. Provided they meet the terms of their contract, they are free to make their own decisions regarding remuneration and practice expenditure.

As independent businesses, it is also the responsibility of individual GP practices to employ locum GPs to meet their needs, and to decide whether the rate at which they are able to secure a locum represents good value for money.