Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will review the contractual terms of dentists to incentivise them to work in areas having difficulty providing NHS dentistry services; and if he will make a statement.

NHS England are leading discussions with the British Dental Association, other dental stakeholder groups and patients for further reform of the NHS dental system in 2023. We are aware that certain areas have particular challenges to access to dental care. One of the aims of the next stage of the National Health Service dental system reforms is to improve access for patients, including in areas that traditionally experience challenges in access.

In September 2022 we announced ‘Our plan for patients’ to make improvements to the NHS dental system. On 25 November 2022, amendments to the NHS dental contract came into effect, which will increase access for patients, make NHS dentistry a more attractive place to work and increase efficiency.

To incentivise high performing practices to expand and deliver more NHS care, particularly in those areas where NHS dentistry is less prevalent, we have enabled, subject to commissioner agreement, practices to deliver up to 110% contracted activity so that more patients can be seen.