Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Departmental body is responsible for promotion of careers in dentistry; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of arrangements for promoting dentistry careers in (a) Devon and (b) other areas.

Strengthening the dental workforce is key to our ambitions. We intend to set out next steps on the dental workforce soon. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

No specific departmental body is responsible for the promotion of dentistry careers however, the responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) across England. For the North Dorset constituency, this is Dorset ICB.

Integrated Care Boards are recruiting dentists through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years. The scheme is designed to encourage relocation to areas with workforce challenges, to attract new workforce to the NHS, and to retain those who might have otherwise moved into private practice.