Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Goldsborough Excerpts

Tuesday 25th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

We are expecting the draft recommendations, and then a three-month consultation period will follow, but I want to act quickly on the evidence and what the recommendations contain, not least because we know that as well as it being a prevalent form of cancer, some groups—particularly black men, men with a family history of prostate cancer and men with BRCA gene mutations—are at higher risk. Black men are twice as likely to die with prostate cancer than white men. There is therefore an imperative to act. Whatever the recommendation, we need to do much better on diagnosis and treatment of this terrible condition.

[Ben Goldsborough (South Norfolk) (Lab)]

9. What steps his Department is taking to improve access to NHS dental services in Norfolk.

[The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)]

NHS dentistry is out of reach for too many people, and that issue is felt particularly acutely in rural areas such as Norfolk. This Government are rolling out extra urgent dental appointments across the country, and we will be making further improvements for patients to come in from April 2026. NHS dentistry was left to rot for 14 years under the Conservatives; Labour is putting it on the road to recovery.

[Ben Goldsborough]

After 16 months of a Labour Government, the share of adults in Norfolk seen by a dentist has risen from barely scraping 30% to well over 40%—lots done, but lots more to be done. The University of East Anglia proposed a dental school as part of the solution. Will the Minister work with Department for Education colleagues to ensure that the Office for Students and other bodies give it the green light?

[Stephen Kinnock]

I, too, am absolutely delighted that more patients can see a dentist in Norfolk but, as my hon. Friend says, there is a long way to go. We are certainly not complacent, but we are showing that it is possible to turn things around. I am also pleased that the University of East Anglia has been approved as a dental school by the General Dental Council. The Office for Students has statutory responsibility for allocating dental school places, but I fully agree that UEA would be a good candidate for any additional Government-funded places allocated in future.