We are aware of the Scottish Gluten-free Food Service, under which eligible patients can obtain gluten-free foods through community pharmacy and adults are offered an annual pharmacist health check. While health services are devolved and arrangements in Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Government, we continue to consider evidence and experiences from across the United Kingdom as part of wider policy development.

Community pharmacy in England is already playing an increasing clinical role, but any proposal for a new national pharmacy-led service would require careful assessment of clinical benefit, workforce implications, affordability, and interaction with existing care pathways. The Department will continue to keep relevant evidence and service models under review.

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

While there are currently no plans to issues guidelines specifically for maternal services, we are developing guidance to provide greater clarity and consistency for systems in developing and scaling neighbourhood health.

We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations, and involve National Health Service, local authority, and voluntary sector services.

The Department does not hold data relating to what proportion of adults with a learning disability in England have a regular annual health check with a general practitioner.

NHS England is required to offer to all primary medical services contractors the opportunity to enter into arrangements under the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Services (DES) Scheme. Integrated care boards (ICBs), as commissioners of primary care services, are responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient provision of these services to meet the needs of their patient population.

As part of the Network Contract DES Learning Disabilities Health Check Scheme, primary services contractors are required to identify registered patients aged 14 years old or over who have learning disabilities and to record this on a learning disabilities register. Contractors are required to offer annual health checks to these patients.

Community pharmacies are private businesses that provide National Health Service funded services.

There were 10,402 community pharmacies on 30 September 2025. In general, despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies in recent years, patient access to pharmacies remains good, and continues to be better in the most deprived areas when compared with the least deprived.

The vast majority of pharmacies are not directly commissioned or contracted by the NHS, instead contractors apply to gain entry to the NHS pharmaceutical list and if an application is approved, a pharmacy can start providing NHS services.

The assessments of the adequacy of provision, the location, and the number of pharmacies required in a certain area are the statutory responsibility of local authorities health and wellbeing boards. Local authorities are required to publish a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years. Integrated care boards (ICBs) give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from potential contractors.

Contractors can apply to open a new pharmacy to meet any current or future need identified in the PNA, but also to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA. If there is a need for a new local pharmacy to open and no contractors apply to open a pharmacy and fill the gap, ICBs can directly commission a new pharmacy to open outside of the market entry processes and can fund the contract from the ICB’s budgets.

Contractors can already seek an ICB’s permission to either consolidate different premises onto one site or to relocate their pharmacy premises to a different address. The approval of such requests depends on the impact it is likely to cause for patients and commissioners.

Community pharmacies are private businesses that provide National Health Service funded services.

There were 10,402 community pharmacies on 30 September 2025. In general, despite a reduction in the number of pharmacies in recent years, patient access to pharmacies remains good, and continues to be better in the most deprived areas when compared with the least deprived.

The vast majority of pharmacies are not directly commissioned or contracted by the NHS, instead contractors apply to gain entry to the NHS pharmaceutical list and if an application is approved, a pharmacy can start providing NHS services.

The assessments of the adequacy of provision, the location, and the number of pharmacies required in a certain area are the statutory responsibility of local authorities health and wellbeing boards. Local authorities are required to publish a pharmaceutical needs assessment (PNA) every three years. Integrated care boards (ICBs) give regard to the PNAs when reviewing applications from potential contractors.

Contractors can apply to open a new pharmacy to meet any current or future need identified in the PNA, but also to offer benefits to patients that were not foreseen by the PNA. If there is a need for a new local pharmacy to open and no contractors apply to open a pharmacy and fill the gap, ICBs can directly commission a new pharmacy to open outside of the market entry processes and can fund the contract from the ICB’s budgets.

Contractors can already seek an ICB’s permission to either consolidate different premises onto one site or to relocate their pharmacy premises to a different address. The approval of such requests depends on the impact it is likely to cause for patients and commissioners.

As self-employed contractors, general practitioners (GPs) act as providers making their own decisions based on local workforce needs. This includes decisions about the number of partners and salaried GPs at the practice.

GPs will be the cornerstone of the Neighbourhood Health Service. The excellent GP leaders we currently have across the system, and those we will nurture and develop for future generations, will be integral in shaping and delivering it.

Following the publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. They will be more empowered, more flexible, and more fulfilled. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the best care for patients, when they need it. From now on, we will ensure that staff will be better treated, have better training, more fulfilling roles, and hope for the future, so they can achieve more.

The Department has no current plans to reopen the New to Partnership Payment Scheme, which was launched by NHS England and ran from July 2020 to June 2023.

We recognise that fewer general practitioners (GPs) are interested in going into partnership, and that the partnership model is not the only model currently delivering general practice. General practices can and do choose to organise themselves in different ways, many of which cite evidence of good outcomes in terms of staff engagement and patient experience.

Reasons for GPs not wanting to take on a contractor role or moving back to a salaried role from a contractor role can vary and include concerns about workload and work/life balance, the personal financial risk involved or a lack of interest in aspects of the work, such as managing income and expenditure.

Where the traditional GP partnership model is working well, it should continue, but through the delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan we want to create an alternative that supports the neighbourhood health model, provides resilience and allows economies of scale, securing the sustainability of general practice into the future.

We have committed to substantive GP contract reform within this Parliament following acceptance of the 2025/26 contract by the England general practitioners committee of the British Medical Association. As part of this, we expect to consider a breadth of topics, which may include updates to the partnership model.

The following table shows the number of general practice (GP) partners nationally, both full time equivalent (FTE) and as a headcount, as of March in each of the last 10 years:

In addition, the following table shows the number of salaried GPs nationally, both FTE and as a headcount, as of March in each of the last 10 years:

Notes:

1. the data does not include estimates for practices that did not provide fully valid staff records;
2. FTE refers to the proportion of full time contracted hours that the post holder is contracted to work. One would indicate they work a full set of hours, 37.5 hours, 0.5 that they worked half this time. For GPs in training grade contracts, one FTE equals 40 hours, and in these tables, these FTEs have been converted to the standard Workforce Minimum Data Set measure of one FTE being equal to 37.5 hours for consistency; and
3. to compile a complete time series covering 10 years, we’ve used data starting from March 2016, as the most recent numbers wouldn’t allow for the full range. Also, data for March 2015 is unavailable.

The Government will shortly publish its response to the public consultation entitled Pharmacy Supervision. An impact assessment will be published alongside draft legislation, on the legislation.GOV.UK website, at the following link:

www.legislation.gov.uk

Following its launch in 2005, the Electronic Prescribing Service (EPS) is now used in more than 96% of general practices (GPs). While GP IT services and funding do not cover dispensing services provided by dispensing doctors, EPS is used in prescribing and dispensing, so currently a dispensing doctor practice will receive funding for the prescribing element of its EPS systems but not the dispensing element.

Dispensing practices receive a dispensing fee, approximately £2.00 to £2.30 per item, which is intended to cover dispensing costs. This fee is calculated based on the forecasted volumes of prescriptions to be dispensed and the size of the funding envelope, according to a methodology agreed by the Department, the General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association, NHS Employers, and the Welsh administration.

Dispensing doctors are reimbursed in line with the Statement of Financial Entitlement Directions, which sets out the reimbursements general practices (GPs), including dispensing GPs, are entitled to.

Dispensing practices receive a dispensing fee, approximately £2.00 to £2.30 per item, which is intended to cover dispensing costs. This fee is calculated based on forecasted volumes of prescriptions to be dispensed and the size of the funding envelope, according to a methodology agreed by the Department, the GP committee of the British Medical Association (BMA), NHS Employers, and the Welsh administration. An updated methodology was agreed between the BMA and NHS England to address the issue of continuing fluctuation between over and underspend year on year, the alternating pattern of over and under spends, and was implemented in October 2023.

The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts the National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to supporting people with a range of conditions such as autism, in all parts of the country.

We understand that not all patients can or want to use online services. The GP Contract is clear that patients should always have the option of telephoning or visiting their practice in person, and all online tools must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, other channels for accessing a general practice.

The 2025/26 GP Contract includes a new requirement for practices to enable online appointment requests throughout the duration of core opening hours. In addition to improving online access, this will help free up phone lines for people who prefer to telephone.

In 2024, the Department carried out a consultation on introducing legislation that would give the General Dental Council (GDC) powers to provisionally register overseas-qualified dentists who have not yet met the GDC’s requirements for full registration. Dentists that meet our high standards should be able to enter the workforce efficiently.

Further information on the consultation is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/provisional-registration-for-overseas-qualified-dentists

We are determined to rebuild National Health Service dentistry, but it will take time and there are no quick fixes. Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions and we are considering whether to proceed with the proposal to introduce provisional registration. Our position on this proposal will be set out in due course.

Contractors are already paid monthly. The full payment timetable for community pharmacy contractors is detailed in Clause 5C Part I of the Drug Tariff, and on the Schedule of Payments that contractors receive each month.

In 2021, in recognition of the improved automation of the claims process, the timing of the advanced payment was brought forward by 20 days to improve cash flow.

Contractors receive an advance payment early in the month. This covers an estimate of the full income from claims submitted for the previous month. A reconciliation payment follows two months later, when all the claims have been fully processed.

NHS England is testing how improving digital connectivity between primary care optometry and secondary care will allow optometrists to share diagnostic images and receive advice and guidance from specialists. This will enable more patients to be managed in the community, reducing the need for patients to be referred, and for those needing a referral to the hospital eye service, this could reduce the need for repeat diagnostics.

This approach aims to free up secondary eye care capacity and improve clinic efficiency, so specialists can prioritise patients needing specialist input on ophthalmology waiting lists.

A previous consultation on pharmacy supervision was published earlier this year. The Government and devolved administrations will set out plans for the policy when it responds to that consultation, in due course.

In December 2023, the Home Office published their estimated immigration impacts of the announced legal migration changes, including the restriction on bringing dependants for care workers and senior care workers. These are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts-accessible

This was followed by the 2024 spring Immigration Rules: impact assessment published in September 2024, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-immigration-rules-impact-assessments/2024-spring-immigration-rules-impact-assessment-accessible