Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2023 to Question 2859 on Dental Services, what steps she is taking to increase access to NHS dental care provision for adults in Easington constituency.

In July 2022, we announced a package of reforms to improve access to National Health Service dentistry, which outlined the steps we are taking to meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care. NHS dental activity as measured by Courses of Treatments delivered has increased by 23% between 2021/22 and 2022/23 and 1.7 million more adults saw an NHS dentist in 2022/23 compared to the previous year, an increase of 10%.

But we know we need to do more, including in some areas where access is particularly problematic. We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will be published shortly.

From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. The Northeast and North Cumbria ICB dental commissioning team, which covers Easington constituency, continues to work closely with local dental networks as well as with providers to explore all opportunities to increase capacity and improve access to local dental services. Local practices that have the capacity to deliver additional clinical sessions outside of their normal opening hours have access to additional funding to provide treatment to patients with urgent dental care needs, looked after children, and patients with complex high care needs.