Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what extra funding has been made available in 2020 to (1) GPs, (2) NHS community health services, and (3) Public Health England, to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Public safety remains the Government’s top priority and the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been clear from the outset that the National Health Service will get whatever funding it needs to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

£31.9 billion of support for healthcare was set out in the summer economic update. This includes over £15 billion for personal protective equipment (PPE), and £10 billion for NHS Test and Trace. The Government has also confirmed a further package of £3 billion for the NHS as part of the COVID-19 recovery strategy, covering support for winter. The total level of funding that is needed may change further.

Details on a funding package for general practitioners (GPs) of nearly £200 million have been confirmed. This covers the legitimate additional costs of the response borne by GP practices due to the pandemic. NHS providers are currently able to claim for COVID-19 costs retrospectively under the temporary finance regime that has been put in place until the end of September. This is operating at trust/foundation trust level rather than for specific services such as community health services. Allocations totalling an additional £2.7 billion are then being made available to local systems for the rest of the year. Funding specific to Public Health England forms part of the NHS Test and Trace budget and the PPE budget the specific distribution to PHE is currently being agreed.