David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to NHS England’s announcement, NHS England backs general practice with a multi-billion transformation plan, published on 21 April 2016, what formula his Department plans to use to determine the allocation of the £2.4 billion a year funding.
Alistair Burt
In December 2015, the NHS England Board published Allocation of resources to NHS England and the commissioning sector for 2016/17 to 2020/21, which set firm allocations for the years 2016/17 to 2018/19 and indicative allocations, to assist with planning, for the years 2019/20 and 2020/21.
Part B of that paper is entitled Distribution of funds within each commissioning stream and paragraphs 34 to 38 describe the primary care allocation formula that was used to calculate the published allocations. Further details on the formula, including recent revisions and improvements to it, are outlined in annex E.
Allocation of resources to NHS England and the commissioning sector for 2016/17 to 2020/21 is on the NHS England website at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/04.PB_.17.12.15-Allocations.pdf
In January 2016, the detailed NHS England Allocations Primary Care (medical) figures for 2016/17 to 2020/21 were published for clinical commissioning group (CCG) areas. These show firm allocations for 2016/17 to 2018/19 and indicative allocations, to help with planning, for 2019/20 and 2020/21. The paper is available on the NHS England website at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/pc-medical-allocations.pdf
In addition, the 44 Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) areas have received indicative allocations, which include: CCG expenditure on general practice, which is funded from CCG allocations; shares of general practice access funding; and also the mental health allocation, which will fund the additional therapists mentioned in the General Practice Forward View.
Together the above account for around £2.1 billion of the £2.4 billion increase.
There are a number of elements not included in the commissioning or STP allocations, including the Estates and Technology Transformation Fund (formerly the Primary Care Transformation Fund), capital funding and funding for general practitioner (GP) trainers and GP trainees. These other elements account for around £0.3 billion of the £2.4 billion increase, and it is yet to be determined how this funding will be allocated across the country.
