Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dentists are available to residents in (a) north Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For North Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes this is the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB.

In the years 2023/24, the number of dentists who performed NHS work in the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB was 481, which is equivalent to 47.4 dentists per 100,000 population. The average number of dentists per 100,000 at an ICB level in the same period was 49.8 dentists per 100,000 population. This data is published on NHS Business Services Authority, and is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324