To ask the Minister of Health whether he will remove personal indemnity costs borne by GPs.

I am aware that arrangements for clinical negligence indemnity are a matter of concern for GPs locally and I am committed to identifying solutions to address this issue for Northern Ireland GPs. Recognising this, my Department recently reallocated funding from other areas of the GP budget to boost capacity in the service and mitigate demand and capacity pressures; this funding included support for additional costs of indemnity to enhance the capacity of the system to manage demand and was on a non recurrent basis.

My Department is continuing to take forward work to look at the future model of GP indemnity provision in Northern Ireland. A number of possible options have been identified as part of this work, ranging from the current model to state intervention that includes a number of state backed model options.

Departmental officials are continuing to take forward options appraisal through the business case process which will conclude with the identification of a proposed preferred way forward for indemnity arrangements in Northern Ireland.