Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of NHS dentists practicing in (a) Bradford and (b) other areas with significantly above average incidences of oral and dental health problems.

NHS England is required to commission primary care dental services to meet local need. Generally there are not difficulties in finding dentists to work on services where these are commissioned. The local National Health Service is undertaking a detailed project to understand the ongoing access issues in Bradford in order to identify a solution. NHS England is also looking at how best to improve oral health in 10 high need areas.