Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on oral health inequalities in children; and if he will make a statement.

No specific assessment has been made of the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on oral health inequalities in children.

The Dental Public Health Epidemiology Programme annual oral health surveys which include children’s oral health have been affected. The 2019-2020 oral health survey of three-year-olds was suspended on the 18 March 2020 and the 2020-2021 oral health survey of five-year-olds has been suspended until summer term 2021.