Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what specific steps he is taking to improve access to NHS Dentistry in Darlington constituency.

An additional £50 million was allocated for National Health Service dentistry for the final quarter of 2021/22 to provide urgent care to patients. Of this funding, £8,633,000 was made available to the North East and Yorkshire region, including Darlington. NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked practices to deliver at least 95% of contracted units of dental activity and 100% of units of orthodontic activity to safely improve access for patients safely.

The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with stakeholders, including the British Dental Association, to improve to the NHS dental system and negotiations are currently underway on initial measures. This aims to improve access to NHS dentistry, including in Darlington.