Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of people waiting to access NHS Dental services in North Devon; and what steps are being taken to utilise dental therapists within the dental industry to alleviate waiting lists.

Data on waiting times for National Health Service dental appointments is not collected centrally. Appointments for NHS treatments, recruitment and resource planning are managed directly by dental practices.

NHS England and NHS Improvement and Health Education England (HEE) are developing proposals to reform the NHS dental contract. HEE is focusing on improving recruitment and retention and identify barriers to more efficient use of the whole dental team in NHS dentistry.