Written questions by Stephenson.

What discussions he has had with GPs on booking appointments online.

In February 2025, as part of the annual contract negotiations, the Department consulted with the General Practitioners Committee England, the representative body for general practitioners (GPs). During these discussions, the General Practitioners Committee England agreed to make online booking a contractual obligation for all practices.From 1 October 2025, all general practices have been contractually required to offer contact online with their GP during core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30, including to request appointments, bringing online access in line with walk-in and telephone services.In support of practices working to meet this requirement, NHS England and integrated care boards have provided assistance where required. The Department is committed to engaging with GPs and other stakeholders to make sure these targets are both achievable and reflective of local population needs, as well as to address any barriers to delivery We are reversing decades of plummeting patient satisfaction. Over 73% of patients now say that it is easy to contact their practice, which is up 13 percentage points since the election.

What the locations are of the NHS Neighbourhood Health Centres announced at the Autumn Budget 2025.

At the Autumn Budget, we announced our commitment to deliver 250 neighbourhood health centres (NHCs) through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments, to expand and improve sites over the next three years, and new-build sites opening in the medium term.The first 120 NHCs are due to be operational by 2030 and will be delivered through public private partnerships and public capital. This includes refurbishments to the Alfred Barrow Health Centre in Barrow-in-Furness, the Stockland Green and Summerfield Primary Care Centres in Birmingham, the Jubilee Gardens Centre in Ealing.Nationwide coverage will take time, but we will start in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including rural towns and communities with higher deprivation levels, targeting places where healthy life expectancy is lowest and delivering healthcare closer to home for those that need it the most.Integrated care boards and local health systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for the 250 NHCs to be delivered through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. They have been commissioned to produce five-year strategy and delivery plans, including plans for neighbourhood health.

Pursuant to the answer of 11 September 2025 to Written Question 73770, how many neighbourhoods he expects each ICB to designate.

Neighbourhoods are natural communities that are recognisable by local residents. Typically, neighbourhoods will have populations of approximately 50,000 people, but coherent geography is more important for defining neighbourhoods than the population size. The numbers of neighbourhoods designated in each integrated care board (ICB) geography will be defined locally by ICBs and their system partners. We will share further guidance to provide greater clarity and consistency for systems in developing and scaling neighbourhood health.

With reference to the press release entitled Patients in poorer areas to get better access to GPs, published on 9 October 2025, how funding will change in Bedfordshire.

It is vital that funding for core primary medical services is distributed equitably between general practices (GPs) across the country so that resources are targeted where they are most needed. In October 2025 we launched a review of the GP funding formula (The Carr-Hill Formula), with the objective of better matching funding with higher need from poorer health. Through our 10-Year Health Plan, it will be easier and faster to see a GP. We will end the 8:00am scramble for appointments, train more doctors, and guarantee consultations within 24 hours for those who need one. In October 2024, we invested £160 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to support the recruitment of 2,900 individual GPs into primary care networks across England, helping to increase appointment availability and improve care for thousands of patients. The new £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund will create additional clinical space within over 1,000 GPs across England. This investment will deliver more appointments and improve patient care. There are 13 approved schemes across the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB being supported by the fund.

Pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2025 to written question 89790, how much the annual cap is.

Funding for the eligible apprenticeships has been capped in line with 2023/24 start numbers, which is equivalent to £8.4 million per financial year for new apprenticeship starts. Funding will be allocated according to workforce need, training provider capacity and the priorities set out in the 10-Year Health Plan to 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.

How many visas a) his Department, b) the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency, c) the UK Health Security Agency, d) the Care Quality Commission, e) the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, f) NHS England, g) the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, h) NHS Blood and Transplant, i) NHS Business Services Authority, and j) NHS Resolution have sponsored since 4 July 2024.

The requested data is not held centrally in a reportable format.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2025 to Question 73473 on Health Services: Apprentices, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of funding the provision of those Level 7 apprenticeships in each of the next five years.

Funding for the continuation of Level 7 apprenticeships in five professions has been agreed by NHS England and the Department for courses starting from 1 January 2026 up to 31 March 2029. Funding can be used by employers to cover education costs which would previously have been funded through the apprenticeship levy.Final expenditure is subject to the number of actual apprenticeship starts in each year. However, total funding will be capped annually, aligned to 2023/24 start numbers.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2025 to Question 73482 on Integrated Care Boards: Finance, if he will make an estimate of the potential impact of the use of five-year population projections on the level of funding from his Department for the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB.

Allocations are determined through a complex, weighted capitation formula that incorporates multiple factors beyond population projections, including age, sex, need, and cost adjustments. Isolating the effect of a single component would not accurately reflect the complexities of the overall methodology.

If he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of (a) consultations and (b) reviews conducted by his Department since 4 July 2024.

Consultations and reviews form part of everyday policymaking in the Department, making it impossible to disaggregate a figure for salary costs specifically relating to consultations. Therefore, the information requested is not held.

With reference to Department for Science, Innovation and Technology's press release entitled AI to cut paperwork to free up doctors’ time for patients, published on 16 August 2025, if he will publish a definition for (a) medical expert and (b) full review.

The Department does not maintain statutory definitions of “medical expert” or “full review”. For the purposes of the press release issued on 16 August 2025, “medical expert” refers to a registered healthcare professional with relevant clinical expertise who contributes to the development or validation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and “full review” refers to a comprehensive assessment process that includes clinical safety, data governance, and regulatory compliance checks prior to the deployment of AI systems within National Health Service settings.

With reference to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology's press release entitled AI to cut paperwork to free up doctors’ time for patients, published on 16 August 2025, if he will make an estimate of the time saved per patient discharge.

The Department does not hold a single national figure for time saved per patient discharge across all National Health Service settings. However, trials referenced in the Department’s press release of 16 August 2025 and subsequent trials indicate that the use of ambient voice technology and other artificial intelligence-enabled tools can significantly reduce administrative burden. For example, one London-wide trial found that ambient voice technology reduced time spent on paperwork by approximately 51.7%, equating to an average saving of approximately six minutes per patient discharge summary. These figures are indicative and will vary depending on local implementation and clinical context.

With reference to page 7 of the NHS 10 Year Plan, if he will set out the circumstances in which integrated care board boundaries will differ from those of mayoralty authorities.

It remains the Government’s ambition for integrated care boards (ICBs) to be coterminous with one or more strategic authorities wherever feasible, a commitment made in the English devolution white paper and reaffirmed in our 10-Year Health Plan. Next summer, as local government reform progresses, the Department of Health and Social Care will work closely with NHS England and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to decide any further ICB mergers and boundary changes.

With reference to the 10 Year Health Plan, how many GPs per neighbourhood will there be under the Neighbourhood Health Service.

General practices (GPs) will be the cornerstone of the Neighbourhood Health Service. We anticipate that GPs will play a key role in providing clinical leadership for integrated neighbourhood teams.We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in rural communities, coastal towns, and deprived inner cities.We will train thousands more GPs in the coming years, and through the course of the 10-Year Health Plan we will increase the proportion of staff we train for community and primary care roles.

With reference to the policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of new neighbourhood GP providers on patient choice.

The ambition for our Neighbourhood Health Service is to rebalance our health and care system so that it fits around people’s lives, moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach and giving people more power and choice over the care that they receive.Neighbourhood Health Services will bring together teams of professionals, including nurses, doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, and health visitors, closer to people’s home, to work together to provide comprehensive care in the community.This Government will bring back the family doctor for those who would benefit from seeing the same clinician regularly, for example, those living with chronic illness. In doing so, we will improve continuity of care, which is associated with better health outcomes and fewer accident and emergency department attendances. We will make sure the future of general practice is sustainable by training thousands more general practitioners and delivering a modern booking system.

Whether he has made an assessment of the reasons for the difficulties in the recruitment of health staff in rural areas, in the context of his plans for a Neighbourhood Health Service.

We have found that people tend to settle and practice in areas where they train, as identified on page 209 of the Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report 2021 – Health in Coastal Communities, which is available at the following link:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60f98750e90e0703bbd94a41/cmo-annual_report-2021-health-in-coastal-communities-accessible.pdfA central part of the 10-Year Health Plan is our workforce and how we ensure that we train and provide the staff, technology and infrastructure the National Health Service needs to care for patients across our communities, including rural and coastal areas.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Millions more appointments as more than 2,000 extra GPs recruited, published on 24 July 2025, how many of those GPs are working in Bedfordshire.

As of 31 August 2025, 48 newly qualified GPs have been recruited through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme since October 2024 in NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of housing costs on the recruitment of health staff, in the context of his plans for a Neighbourhood Health Service.

We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. While we will be clear on the outcomes we expect, we will give significant licence to tailor the approach to local need. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in rural communities, coastal towns or deprived inner cities.

How new GP surgeries will be set up under his 10 Year Health Plan.

Our aim of establishing a Neighbourhood Health Centre (NHC) in every community, open at least 12 hours a day and 6 days a week, and with services that are fully data and digitally enabled, will revitalise access to general practice.To establish NHCs, we will use public capital to update and refurbish existing, under-used buildings, maximising value for money and delivering healthcare closer to home for those that need it the most. Integrated care boards will be key as strategic commissioners in identifying where NHCs are required and defining their requirements in the context of other supporting infrastructure in the local area.We are investing an additional £102 million of capital funding to upgrade existing general practice premises this year. Further details about how we will deliver NHCs and continue to invest in general practice will be confirmed in due course.

How many face-to-face GP appointments were there in each of the past three years.

In the past three years, the number of face-to-face GP appointments were as follows:12 months to August 2023: 100.1 million appointments12 months to August 2024: 101.2 million appointments12 months to August 2025: 99 million appointmentsThese appointments do not include COVID-19 vaccinations, and a small number of Primary Care Network appointments that could not be allocated to an integrated care board have been excluded.

What engagement he has had with local authorities in Bedfordshire on plans for ICB re-organisation in the East of England.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) should engage with all other organisations within their integrated care partnership, including with local authorities, to ensure they are involved where there are boundary changes.Clustering ICBs remain separate organisations and so must necessarily continue to duplicate some activities, which is unwieldy. Mergers allow those inefficiencies to be removed and brings stability for leaders, staff, and partners. It is not possible to estimate the difference in savings between clusters and mergers because these may vary in footprints, in starting points, and in transition arrangements.When NHS England decides on ICB mergers, it must take into account its wider duties, including duties relating to value for money and equalities. These will be considered in decision making, but NHS England is not required to publish impact assessments.