Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of new general practitioners required each year to cope with net migration.

Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient future supply of staff, including those needed in specialist fields such as general practice, to meet the workforce requirements of the English health system.

Each year, HEE produces a National Workforce Plan for England. This builds upon the needs of local employers, providers, commissioners and other stakeholders who, as members of its Local Education Training Boards, shape their local plans.

Demand forecasting is currently the responsibility of employers; it is an integral part of business planning and forms part of the Sustainable Transformation Planning process, led by NHS England.

HEE remains committed to increasing the number of general practitioner trainees. Last year, there were a record number of over 3,000 trainees appointed at ST1 level. Additionally, HEE is maintaining its focus on those areas where it has been traditionally hard to recruit. Last year, for example, the fill rate in the East Midlands increased from 63% to 95% and in the North East from 60% to 79%.