Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2024 to question 52 on Dental Health: Pupils, for what reason the National Screening Committee have not reviewed school dental screening recommendations in the period 2022-23.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) was due to review screening for dental disease in children under nine years old in 2022/23. However, a number of reviews, including this one, were delayed due to staff depletion and delays to recruitment, following the UK NSC secretariat function moving into the Department, and the Committee’s remit expanding. Staffing levels have now been resolved, and the UK NSC is addressing the outstanding reviews in their planned three-year programme of work.