Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if, in order to maintain improvements to general practice premises standards, he will take steps to safeguard the General Practice Finance Corporation;
(2) when he expects to publish the results of the review of premises of general practitioners.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe activities of the corporation, which have remained largely unchanged since its inception in 1966, are currently being reviewed. Amongst other things we aim to ascertain whether the corporation is still needed or whether general medical practitioners are now able to obtain from other sources the finance they need to provide and improve practice premises to the necessary standards. Until the results of the review are available it will not be known whether it will be necessary to take steps to safeguard the corporation. There are no plans to publish the review which will take the form of advice to Ministers.