Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which professional bodies, patient organisations, Integrated Care Boards and dental workforce representatives are being consulted on NHS dental contract reform.

In Summer 2025, we held a public consultation on a package of proposals of changes to the current National Health Service contract, to address some of the pressing issues that dentists and dental teams are experiencing. The Government response has been published and received a total of 2,289 completed responses. Of these responses, 60% were from individuals sharing their personal views and experiences, 33% were from individuals sharing their professional views, and 7% were from individuals providing a response on behalf of an organisation. The reforms will be implemented from April 2026 onwards.

The Government is committed to more fundamental contract reform by the end of this Parliament. This will include a public consultation on the future proposals. As well as working towards a full public consultation, we are continuing to engage with the sector regularly, including the British Dental Association and other representatives, on these reforms to scope potential changes. While we do not publish information on official level meetings, details of ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the GOV.UK website.