Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists were operating in the Brighton and Hove CCG area in each of the last five years; what steps he is taking to (a) recruit and (b) retain NHS dental staff; what estimate he has made of the shortfall in NHS dental staff in (i) Brighton and Hove CCG area and (ii) South East region as of 10 February 2022; and if he will make a statement.

The following table shows the number of dentists with National Health Service activity in Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in each of the last five years.

Dental contractors are responsible for delivering activity requirements within their contracts and the recruitment needed to do so. The numbers of dentists recorded as having undertaken NHS dentistry during the pandemic is likely to reflect the impact of infection prevention and control requirements on the number of available appointments.

The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement are developing proposals for dental system reform with stakeholders, such as the British Dental Association, to make NHS dentistry in England more attractive for dentists and their teams. Health Education England’s Advancing Dental Care Review, published in September 2021, aims to tackle recruitment, retention and attracting dentists into the NHS. The Dental Education Reform Programme is implementing these recommendations, particularly in areas of low NHS dental provision. No specific estimate of shortfalls in Brighton and Hove CCG and the South East has been made as of 10 February 2022.