Malcolm Moss (North East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health

(1) what proportion of savings under the practice-based commission scheme a GP practice is allowed to spend in (a) the next financial year following the making of the savings and (b) subsequent years;

(2) what the recommended list of service initiatives is on which a GP practice could spend savings made under the practice-based commission scheme.

Ben Bradshaw (Minister of State (Health Services; Minister for the South West), Department of Health; Exeter, Labour)

Practice Based Commissioning guidance ("Practice-based commissioning: practical implementation," November 2006) establishes that practice based commissioners should be allowed to use a minimum of 70 per cent. of any savings achieved through the innovative redesign of services. The remaining 30 per cent. is for the primary care trust (PCT) to use at their discretion. The proportion of savings which can be used by practice based commissioners relate to both the financial year following the making of the savings and to subsequent years where savings are achieved. A copy of the guidance has been placed in the Library.

The guidance also establishes that practice based commissioners should use the savings achieved as a result of practice based commissioning activities for the benefit of patients and to be reinvested in patient care. The use of the savings is at local discretion and should be agreed with the PCT. There is no national recommended list of service initiatives on which the savings should be used.