§ Mr. MartlewTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he intends to alter the guidelines given to family practitioner committees on the drawing of general practitioners' practice boundaries.
§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley[holding answer 23 April 1990]: No. Subject to approval by the medical practices committee, a general practitioner may choose the area from which his patients are drawn provided he can fulfil his obligation to visit patients on his list. A general practitioner must, however, notify the family practitioner committee of his proposed practice area as a condition of acceptance on to the medical list. He may, at any time, change this area with the consent of the family practitioner committee or on appeal to the Secretary of State.