Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Baker Excerpts

Tuesday 25th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[David Williams (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

10. What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to NHS dental services.

[Alex Baker (Aldershot) (Lab)]

12. What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to NHS dental services.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

18. What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to NHS dental services.

--- Later in debate ---

[Stephen Kinnock]

It is shameful that tooth decay is the biggest reason for hospital admissions of children aged between five and nine, and the inequalities surrounding that are stark. On 7 March, we confirmed a £11.4 million investment in supervised toothbrushing for three to-five-year-olds. The scheme is targeted at children in the most deprived areas—those in index of multiple deprivation groups 1 and 2—and will reach up to 600,000 children. Our innovative partnership with Colgate-Palmolive will result in the donation of more than 23 million toothbrushes and toothpastes, providing outstanding value for taxpayers’ money.

[Alex Baker]

Aldershot and Farnborough are dental deserts. My constituent Nick had an infected wisdom tooth and was in agony. He had been registered with a practice in Farnborough, but it kicked him off its patient list. He obtained an emergency appointment through 111, but two weeks later the infection was back. He was left with little choice but to go private, which cost him £700—10 times what the treatment would have cost on the NHS. Can the Minister explain how Labour’s plan for change will help to prevent such cases from being repeated as we end the 14 years of dentistry failure that we saw under the Conservatives?

[Stephen Kinnock]

My hon. Friend has demonstrated again that she is a tireless campaigner for the people of Aldershot, and I am sorry to hear of the challenges faced by her constituents. This Government will deliver 700,000 more urgent dental appointments a year, and will recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. My hon. Friend’s local ICB has been asked to deliver nearly 7,000 of those additional urgent care appointments in the year from April. In the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focusing on prevention and improving the retention of NHS dentists.