Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will require integrated care boards to collect data on the availability of NHS dental care services in their locality.

From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for undertaking oral health needs assessments, including any data collection, to identify areas of oral health need, inform local commissioning intentions, and determine the local priorities for investment. It is a contractual responsibility for all National Health Service dental practices to update their NHS.UK profiles at least once every 90 days. The Find a Dentist website gives details of the dental practices in an area, and whether they are accepting new patients, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist

ICB-level data on the number of Units of Dental Activity and courses of treatment delivered, as well as the numbers of adults and children seen, is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics