Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his speech of 19 June 2015, on A new deal for general practice, what estimate he has made of the number of new GPs the NHS will recruit following (a) Health Education England's new pre-GP scheme, (b) a new national marketing scheme promoting general practice to medical students, (c) returner schemes for GPs returning from career breaks or practice overseas and (d) improved opportunities for flexible working for GPs approaching retirement.

The Government is committed to increasing the primary and community care workforce by at least 10,000 by 2020, including an estimated 5,000 extra doctors working in general practice.

In support of that commitment, Health Education England (HEE); NHS England; the Royal College of General Practitioners and the BMA General Practitioners Committee have published a joint 10 point plan, “Building the Workforce”, setting out actions to boost the general practitioner (GP) workforce.

As part of its mandate commitment, HEE will ensure a minimum of 3,250 trainees per year are recruited to GP training programmes in England by 2016. HEE’s plans to fill the increased number of training places include a marketing campaign targeted at junior doctors to highlight the benefits of choosing a career in general practice and a new pre-GP scheme targeted at those areas of the country that have historically been difficult to recruit to.

Alongside plans to increase recruitment to GP training, the 10 point plan partner organisations are working to improve retention of experienced GPs in the workforce and help support GPs to return to practice. NHS England launched a new national returner scheme in March 2015, which has so far attracted over 100 applications, and NHS England is currently working to develop flexibilities that might encourage GPs to remain in the workforce.