Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to enable full flexible commissioning of dental services by Integrated Care Boards; and what the evidential basis is for his Department's policy in this area.

From 1 April 2023 the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. The dental regulatory framework is laid out in the General Dental Service contract and Personal Dental Service agreement regulations. The GDS contract and PDS agreement use definitions of Mandatory and Additional services.

Commissioners may take advantage of the opportunities offered through Additional Services and Further Services commissioning, previously flexible commissioning, to tailor services to meet local population oral health needs. These are discrete activities which are contractually and legally differentiated from mandatory services.

Although we have no current plans for a review of flexible commissioning, NHS England is continuing to monitor the use of the arrangements at the local level.