Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure the delivery of 10,910 new dental appointments in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly since February 2025 .

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 since April 2025.

ICBs have the flexibility to commission the additional activity in the way which best meets their local needs. Options include buying more appointments through new or recommissioned contracts, modification of existing contracts, or using flexible commissioning.

National Health Service dentistry is delegated to the ICBs, who are accountable to NHS England for the delivery of urgent dental appointments.