Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the (a) recruitment, (b) training and (c) retention of NHS dentists in Somerset.

The Government continues to monitor the number of dental school places in England to ensure that the NHS has the necessary dental workforce to meet future demand.

The Department worked with NHSE and negotiated with the BDA on a package of improvements to the NHS dental systems which was announced on 19 July 2022. These improvements, which are supported by the sector will mean dentists are more fairly rewarded for the NHS care that they deliver, making NHS dentistry a more attractive place for dentists and their teams to work. The Department is now working with NHS England and the sector on longer-term improvements to NHS dentistry.

Health Education England (HEE) have undertaken a three-year Advancing Dental Care Review of education and training which they are now implementing through their Dental Education Reform Programme to improve recruitment and retention including in Somerset constituency.