Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by the Health Creation Alliance Primary Care Networks and place-based working: addressing health inequalities in a COVID-19 world. A partners perspective, published on 13 April, what consideration they have given to ensuring every Primary Care Network employs a Strategic Relationship Development Lead whose role is to build relationships between primary care, communities and local partners.

No assessment has been made. However, the Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to work with key stakeholders to consider the best ways to tackle health inequalities.

The five-year framework for the General Practitioner Contract included a commitment to introduce a service specification through which Primary Care Networks will identify and address the most pressing health inequalities in their local area. This will be supported by new members of staff employed under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. This scheme includes roles such as social prescribing link workers, whose focus includes identifying and supporting local voluntary and community groups to become sustainable and that community assets are nurtured.