§ Mr. MartlewTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the arrangements are for maternity leave for GPs; and if he will make a statement. [128283]
§ Mr. DenhamThe payments due to a GP on maternity leave are available for a maximum period of 14 weeks. The period for which a GP may need to be absent from her practice prior to, and after, the birth, is a matter for individual assessment. A GP who is absent for a period longer than this, before or after the confinement, will be eligible for payments under the sickness payments scheme 191W provided that these further absences are due to illness, whether or not this is caused by or attributable to her pregnancy or the birth of the child.
Certain additional payments may be made to a woman GP during absences due to her pregnancy and her childbirth. Payments will be intended to reimburse her in part for the cost of a locum necessarily engaged to look after her patients.
Salaried GPs are treated as employees and therefore receive statutory maternity pay.