Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to provide orthodontic treatment for people over the age of 18 who were unable to receive treatment during the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic we provided over £1.7 billion in income protection to ensure that National Health Service dental and orthodontic capacity was retained and services were provided throughout. In Quarter 4 2021/22, we allocated a further £50 million for NHS dentistry and NHS England targeted the available care for those patients most in need. From April 2022, NHS England asked all orthodontic providers to return to full pre-COVID-19 activity.