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 22 January 2025 to Question 24721 on Dental Services: Lancashire, what recent progress he has made on delivering 700,000 additional dental appointments.

We have asked the integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent dental needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from April 2025.

Appointments are available across the country, with specific expectations for each region. These appointments are more heavily weighted towards those areas where they are needed most. The Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB is expected to deliver 20,822 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.