The cabinet secretary will know that the current maintenance backlog in GP surgeries stands at £78.5 million, which is already over the budget that he has set out.

He knows that there is a shortage of GPs, that primary care budgets have been cut and that a recent British Medical Association survey found that only 5 per cent of doctors thought that their practice was sustainable. With services already stretched, what more can the cabinet secretary do to set aside capital funding during the next three years in order to repair GP practices?