Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (1) help tacklethe number of NHS dental practices in and around Dorking and Horley that are not accepting new NHS patients; and (2) increase access to NHS dentists accepting new patients in those areas.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend. Some dental practices may operate local waiting list arrangements.

Integrated care board (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population. For the Dorking and Horley constituency, this is the Surrey Heartlands ICB.

In the Surrey Heartlands ICB, the ICB for Dorking and Horley, 14,625, or 4%, more NHS dental treatments were delivered in April to October 2025 compared to the same period before the election.

The Government is committed to ensuring people can access urgent dental care when they need it. Over the past year, ICBs have been commissioning additional urgent dental appointments and there is now an urgent care safety net available in all areas of the country. We are broadening the scope of the 700,000 dental appointments commitment so that the additional appointments can be used for more patients, not just those who meet the clinical criteria for “urgent” care.

We are committed to delivering fundamental reform of the dental contract before the end of this Parliament. As a first step, on 16 December we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on quality and payment reforms to the NHS dental contract. The changes will be introduced from April 2026. These reforms will put patients with greatest need first, incentivising urgent care and complex treatments. More information is available from the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms/outcome/government-response-to-consultation-on-nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, following the National Screening Committee Report on prostate cancer screening in November, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) establishing an NHS information campaign to raise awareness of prostate cancer referral routes for GPs and (b) issuing specific guidance to GPs on informing patients about the (i) NICE and (ii) PCRMP referral routes.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

On 28 November 2025, the UK National Screening Committee opened a 12-week public consultation on a draft recommendation on screening for prostate cancer. This consultation has now closed, and the Committee is considering the responses.

We anticipate a final recommendation soon. After this, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will make a decision on whether to accept the recommendation, and what next steps are needed. At that point, he will make a decision on implementation, including any resources that may be required for general practitioners and other healthcare professionals to support his decision.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure the new digital service will handle applications with greater efficiency and consistency to tackle to backlog in medical license issues and renewal wait times.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The DVLA’s new casework system for driving licence applications where a medical condition must be investigated will deliver significant improvements and the DVLA is also launching a new digital medical services portal in April. These enhancements, alongside the recruitment of additional staff to deal with medical applications and answer telephone calls, will deliver real improvements in services and turnaround times for customers.

Applicants renewing an existing licence may be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing they can meet specific criteria. More information on this can be found at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1180997/inf1886-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla.pdf.

New US sanctions on Cuba

Outdoor learning

Heating oil prices

UK digital sovereignty strategy

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Meg Hillier (Chair); Dame Harriett Baldwin; Chris Coghlan; Jim