Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide NHS dentists with (a) additional funding for advanced training and (b) paid annual leave.

Dentists working in primary care are often small business owners and hold contracts with NHS England to deliver National Health Service dental treatment. Other dentists, for example those that perform community dental services, may be salaried and managed as NHS trust employees. These salaried staff have access to the NHS total reward package, including paid annual leave.

We have no plans to allocate additional funding for advanced training or paid leave for non-salaried dentists providing NHS services. This is because the NHS contracts with independent dental providers to deliver NHS dental treatment in primary care settings. As a result, pay and conditions are agreed between staff and the practice holding an NHS contract. This arrangement provides practices with the flexibility to recruit to meet local needs.