Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral evidence by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Primary Care and Public Health to the Health and Social Care Committee on 25 April 2023, HC 964, what factors he plans to take into account when formulating his plan for dental health care.

We are currently working on a plan for dentistry, to improve access to dental care across England. There are several fronts where we need to take further action to support and recover activity in National Health Service dentistry, to improve access to care for all ages.

Our plan for dentistry will build upon the first package of reforms agreed in July 2022, which included changes to banding and the introduction of a minimum Units of Dental Activity value. Our plan will include addressing how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients, and how we make NHS work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.