Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the (a) total and (b) annual cost of increasing dental undergraduate training places in England by 40% by 2031-32.

As part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, the Government committed to expanding dentist training places so that there are 1,000 places by 2028/29. No specific estimate is available for the increase in dental undergraduate costs, but along with the other commitments to increase training places for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare roles, it is estimated that this will cost an additional £2.4 billion cumulatively, on top of current education and training budgets. This will support a 27% expansion in training places by 2028/29.