To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromsgrove of 18 March 2008, to Question 194632, on polyclinics (rural areas), if he will write to primary care trust chief executives to clarify that there is no requirement for each primary care trust to have a polyclinic in each primary care trust area. (196347)

[holding answer 25 March 2008]: The Department wrote to strategic health authority chief executives in December to confirm the core criteria that will underpin the development of new general practitioner-led health centres. This letter clarified that local commissioners should determine whether or not to go beyond these criteria to achieve more integrated service models such as polyclinics. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library.