Oral Answers to Questions

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Tuesday 5th December 2023 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)]

1. What steps she is taking to improve the commissioning of primary care dental services for vulnerable people.

[Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) (LD)]

16. What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of levels of availability of dentistry appointments on other NHS services.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Victoria Atkins)]

May I, through you, Madam Deputy Speaker, wish Mr Speaker a very speedy recovery?

As Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, I want to reform our NHS and social care system to make it faster, simpler and fairer. Dentistry is a critical part of that. Integrated care boards are responsible for identifying areas of local need and determining the priorities for investment. NHS England published guidance in October this year to help ICBs use their commissioning flexibilities within the national dental contractual framework, and I will be looking carefully at how the boards are identifying need and investment across England, including for vulnerable people.

[Kim Johnson]

I am glad that the Minister mentioned ICBs. Liverpool has a very high percentage of children with dental decay, and tooth extraction is the most common hospital procedure for five to nine-year-olds at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, yet there was a £10 million underspend for primary care dentistry, and instead of investing it in preventive care, NHS England gave permission to all ICBs, including NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, to use the balance to balance their budgets. Will the Minister agree, here and now, to reinstate the ringfenced funding to commission extra capacity for the most vulnerable patients?

[Victoria Atkins]

I am delighted to be able to inform the hon. Member that NHS England has provided guidance for ICBs that requires dental funding to be ringfenced, with any unused resources redirected to improve NHS dental access in the first instance. Interestingly, ICBs will report their expenditure against the dental ringfence to NHS England as part of their in-year financial planning, which will happen at the end of this financial year.

[Kim Johnson]

But the underspend is not being used on dentistry—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

No, no—you do not get another supplementary question. I was about to call Layla Moran for Question 16, which is grouped with this one, but unfortunately she is not present so I shall go straight to the Chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee.