§ Andy BurnhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioner vacancies there were in each primary care trust on 1 March. [158689]
§ Mr. HuttonThe last Recruitment and Retention Vacancy (RRV) survey took place between 1 April 2002 and 31 March 2003. Information on the number of general practitioners (GP) vacancies in each primary care trust (PCT) that occurred during this period has been placed in the Library.
The RRV survey is a count of all GP vacancies that have occurred during each year. It will include existing posts that doctors have left and also new posts created to increase the workforce, even where they were filled very quickly. The number of vacancies in part, is a result of there being more posts overall, reflecting the Government's plan to increase the GP workforce.
§ Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many general practitioners there were per head of population in(a) England and (b) each London primary care trust in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [155274]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 23 February 2004]: The latest available data for unrestricted principals and equivalents (UPEs) per 100,000 population is September 2002. Information is available since 1998 for England and information is available since 2001 at a London primary care trust level and has been placed in the Library.