Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children are on waiting lists to register with an NHS dentist in (a) Stockport, (b) the North West and (c) England; and how many of those children have been on the waiting list for over six months.

No waiting list data is held centrally on adults or children wishing to access National Health Service dental services in Stockport, the North West or England.

The Department is working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Chief Dental Officer for England to increase levels of service, as fast as is safely possible. On 29 March we announced that the threshold for full NHS contractual payment would be raised to 60% of normal activity. Nearly 700 urgent dental care centres also remain open across England to ensure that patients are able to access urgent dental treatment. We continue to explore what more can be done to increase capacity including piloting pre-appointment testing.