Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what resources she is allocating to Integrated Care Boards to help them achieve an increase in the number of NHS dental appointments.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. We have also introduced the Golden Hello scheme which will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in areas that need them most for three years. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

NHS England is responsible for issuing guidance to integrated care boards on dental budgets, including ringfences. NHS England will publish planning guidance for 2025/26 in due course.