Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

What recent estimate he has made of when all wave one hospitals in the New Hospital Programme will be completed.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 February 2025 to Question 29225.

Pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2025 to Question 34376 on NHS: Finance, how the Carr-Hill formula applies to over-subscribed GP surgeries.

The Carr-Hill formula is designed to ensure that practices are reimbursed for their expected workload, that is, practices are paid more if their registered patients are expected to use services more based on past usage patterns of patients with similar characteristics. It considers a range of factors, including patient list turnover, to account for the fact that patients in their first year of registration in a practice tend to have more consultations than other patients. Other factors considered by Carr-Hill include: the sex and age of patients; the additional needs of patients relating to morbidity and mortality and the Standardised Mortality Ratio for those aged under 65 years old; and unavoidable costs based on geographical area, specifically the additional costs of delivering services in a rural area, and in areas where staff costs are higher. When general practice surgeries become over-subscribed, they may apply to their integrated care board to not accept temporarily any new patient registrations for specific reasons, including for example practices’ staffing or recruitment issues.

Pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2025 to Question 35000 on General Practitioners: Contracts, how many GP contracts have been handed back since 4 July 2024.

The Department does not hold the data requested.

What the total cost to the public purse is for (a) clinical negligence and (b) other claims against the National Health Service in England paid out by NHS Resolution in each year since the 2019-20 financial year, broken down by speciality.

NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. The attached document, provided by NHSR, shows the total payments for clinical negligence and non-clinical negligence claims, broken down by year and primary speciality, between the financial years 2019/20 and 2023/24. For this question they have used their Supplementary Annual Statistics (SAS) dataset to ensure the data represents the most up to date information. Therefore, the response will not align with their published Annual Reports and Accounts (ARA). The main difference is that the SAS dataset will take into account the ‘periodical payment order’, payments paid after the date of settlement, whilst the ARA will not.

When he plans to review the dental contract.

To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of National Health Service dentists.There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.We are continuing to meet the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients.

How many additional dentistry appointments have been created since 4 July 2024.

Data on the number of additional urgent dental appointments created since 4 July 2024 is not yet available. We are working with NHS England, the NHS Business Services Authority, and the integrated care boards to define what data will need to be collected in order to set baselines, as well as for ongoing reporting and monitoring.

How many additional GP appointments have been created since 3 July 2024.

Between 1 July 2024 and 31 January 2025, there were 228,814,993 appointments across general practices and primary care networks in England, including for COVID-19 vaccinations. Between 1 July 2023 and 31 January 2024, there were 222,098,986 appointments across general practices and primary care networks in England, again including for COVID-19 vaccinations. Therefore, there were an additional 6,716,007 appointments between July 2024 and January 2025 compared to the same time period the year before.We are working with NHS England to increase the general practice workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice.We have committed to training thousands more general practitioners across the country and to recruiting over 1,000 newly qualified general practitioners through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme over 2024/25.

How the Carr-Hill formula is used to calculate GP surgery funding.

The Carr-Hill formula determines how global sum funding is distributed among practices. The global sum is a capitated payment, calculated based on the size of a practice’s registered list of patients. It accounts for 50% to 60% of general practice funding and is allocated through the core contract.It is a workload-based formula, introduced in 2004, that is designed to ensure that practices are reimbursed for their expected workload. Practices are paid more if their registered patients are expected to use services more, based on past usage patterns of patients with similar characteristics. It takes into account the following factors, whose weight is calculated via an assessment of historical activity rather than need:the sex and age of patients;the additional needs of patients relating to morbidity and mortality, calculated using the Standardised Limited Long-Standing Illness and the Standardised Mortality Ratio for those aged under 65 years old;patient list turnover, to account for the fact that patients in their first year of registration in a practice tend to have more consultations than other patients; andunavoidable costs based on geographical area, specifically the additional costs of delivering services in a rural area, and in areas where staff costs are higher.

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2025 to Question 29223 on General Practitioners: Contracts, how many General Practice contracts have been retendered in each month since 4 July 2024.

The Department does not hold any data regarding how many general practice contracts have been retendered

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Carr-Hill formula in producing an equitable distribution of funding.

The Carr-Hill formula aims to ensure that resources are directed to general practices (GPs) based on an estimate of their patient workload. It takes into account many factors under two groups, the 'drivers of workload' and the 'unavoidable costs', which includes additional needs related to morbidity and mortality. Plans to review this funding formula may be revisited in future. However, any changes would need careful planning to ensure they do not threaten stability or cause financial uncertainty for practices.We are investing an additional £889 million in GPs to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade.

What recent discussions his Department has had with (a) Cambridgeshire Constabulary, (b) the Home Office and (c) National Highways on the creation of a new access road linking Views Common to Hinchingbrooke Hospital as part of the New Hospital Programme.

The North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust is in ongoing discussions with the Cambridgeshire Constabulary over the acquisition of land for a new access road to the Hinchingbrooke Hospital site. The New Hospital Programme Delivery team is supporting the trust with this process and providing support with its ongoing pre-construction activity, which includes business case development and critical enabling works.

What the maximum remaining lifespan is of each RAAC building left on the estate of Hinchingbrooke Hospital.

A report by Mott MacDonald in autumn 2022 into five of the seven predominantly reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) hospitals, including Hinchingbrooke Hospital, estimated that the remaining life of the RAAC panels at the sites would generally extend until approximately 2030.We have since commissioned a comprehensive site-by-site report into the seven RAAC schemes, including Hinchingbrooke Hospital, due to report in summer 2025. The report objectives include forming an updated assessment of the remaining expected life span of the affected sites and establishing whether there are additional mitigation works that could be put in place to extend the sufficiently safe use of the whole hospital site, or areas of the hospital site. Conducting periodic reviews is to be expected in projects of this scale, and given the risks associated with RAAC.Construction for all RAAC replacement schemes is planned to commence and substantially deliver between 2025 and 2030 as part of Wave 1 of the New Hospital Programme. We will prioritise the most affected buildings and services first, followed by the less affected parts of existing hospitals. We continue to prioritise these schemes, with mitigation works in place to ensure patient and staff safety.

What the planned completion date is for the rebuild of Hinchingbrooke Hospital as part of Wave 1 of the New Hospital Programme.

The pre-construction activity for the Hinchingbrooke Hospital scheme, which includes business case development and critical enabling works, is ongoing, with construction of the main hospital build expected to commence in 2027/28 as part of wave one of the New Hospital Programme.The expected completion dates for all schemes will be confirmed following the approval of a Full Business Case as set out in HM Treasury Green Book, as is usual for large infrastructure projects

What the planned date of completion is for all hospitals within Wave 1 of the New Hospital Programme.

The expected completion dates for all schemes will be confirmed following the approval of a Full Business Case as set out in HM Treasury Green Book, as is usual for large infrastructure projects.

What assessment he has made of the risk of using hospital buildings containing RAAC beyond their maximum lifespan.

The Secretary of State has commissioned a comprehensive report into the seven predominantly RAAC hospitals being replaced through the New Hospital Programme, including Hinchingbrooke hospital. The last report was undertaken in Autumn 2022 and covered the five hospitals not at that time within the New Hospital Programme.The site-by-site report on the seven predominantly RAAC hospitals will help inform individual development plans, which continue to progress at pace. The report objectives include assessing the clinical and operational impacts of the running of the existing hospital beyond the estimated life of the current hospital site or 2030, whichever is sooner.Keeping capacity open but being scrupulous about RAAC monitoring and mitigation until the RAAC can be removed is fully in line with the current evidence and recommendations of the Institution of Structural Engineers.

What estimate his Department has made of the potential impact of changes to (a) the minimum wage and (b) employer's National Insurance contributions at the Autumn Budget 2024 on NHS wage costs.

We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at Autumn Budget 2024, which enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26.The Employer National Insurance rise will be implemented from April 2025. The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance contributions costs only, and the level of funding will be confirmed at main estimates shortly.As the 2025/26 pay round will not have concluded by 1 April 2025, it will be necessary to implement an increase to Agenda for Change (AfC) entry pay from 1 April 2025 to maintain compliance with the National Minimum Wage. This will be an advance payment of the 2025/26 pay recommendations, and the final pay award will be given following the conclusion of the Pay Review Body process.This advance will apply to approximately 250,000 AfC staff across band 1 (closed grade), both pay points in band 2 and the entry point of band 3 to ensure National Health Service pay sits above the National Living Wage. These pay points will receive an advance pay uplift of 28p per hour, representing a temporary 2.3% pay uplift.

What the annual budget is for maternity negligence compensation.

NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. NHSR reports costs in financial years, rather than calendar years. The following table shows the total payments for clinical negligence claims, where the specialty is obstetrics, as well as a breakdown of the payments, from 2019/20 and 2023/24:Financial yearPayment for damagesNHS legal costsPayments for claimant legal costsTotal payments2019/20£767,233,238£32,367,023£102,738,093£902,338,3542020/21£723,593,887£33,116,641£91,491,019£848,201,5472021/22£773,202,407£31,805,729£100,760,613£905,768,7482022/23£949,118,455£35,813,142£100,158,967£1,085,090,5632023/24£988,485,434£37,850,663£117,435,753£1,143,771,850Total£4,201,633,420£170,953,198£512,584,445£4,885,171,063 The total payments made by NHSR for clinical negligence claims in 2023/24 was £2.8 billion. This is approximately 1.6% of the NHS resource budget. There is no fixed budget for maternity claims specifically, as the financial management of clinical negligence payments depends only on the financial amount and not the claim type.

What percentage of General Practice contracts have been retendered with a higher remuneration package since 4 July 2024.

The Department does not hold data regarding what percentage of general practice contracts have been retendered with a higher remuneration.

How much his Department spent on maternity negligence compensation in (a) 2024, (b) 2023, (c) 2022, (d) 2021 and (e) 2020.

NHS Resolution (NHSR) manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. NHSR reports costs in financial years, rather than calendar years. The following table shows the total payments for clinical negligence claims, where the specialty is obstetrics, as well as a breakdown of the payments, from 2019/20 and 2023/24:Financial yearPayment for damagesNHS legal costsPayments for claimant legal costsTotal payments2019/20£767,233,238£32,367,023£102,738,093£902,338,3542020/21£723,593,887£33,116,641£91,491,019£848,201,5472021/22£773,202,407£31,805,729£100,760,613£905,768,7482022/23£949,118,455£35,813,142£100,158,967£1,085,090,5632023/24£988,485,434£37,850,663£117,435,753£1,143,771,850Total£4,201,633,420£170,953,198£512,584,445£4,885,171,063 The total payments made by NHSR for clinical negligence claims in 2023/24 was £2.8 billion. This is approximately 1.6% of the NHS resource budget. There is no fixed budget for maternity claims specifically, as the financial management of clinical negligence payments depends only on the financial amount and not the claim type.

How many General Practice contracts have been returned since 4 July 2024.

The Department does not hold data regarding how many general practice contracts have been returned.