Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the revised NHS dental contract to be implemented.

We are committed to reforming the dental contract, but we need to take the time to get this right. There are no perfect payment models and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver genuine improvements for patients and the profession. The Government’s ambition is to deliver fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.

As a first step to reforming the dental contract, we are consulting on a package of changes to improve access to, and the quality of, National Health Service dentistry which will deliver better care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. The consultation is accessible at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms

The consultation was launched on 8 July and will close on 19 August.