To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department issues to primary care trusts on the application of premises criteria to the designation of general practice surgeries. (281359)

Directions issued in 2004 contain minimum standards which primary care trusts use when assessing the suitability of existing or proposed alternative premises. All primary medical care contractors have a contractual obligation to provide premises that are:

suitable for the delivery of those services; and

sufficient to meet the reasonable needs of the contractor's patients.