Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the factors that prevent children from accessing NHS dental services.

The Government is committed to improving access to National Health Service dental services and improving the oral health of children in England. The Government continues to carefully consider the barriers that children, particularly those most at risk, have in accessing NHS dental services.

NHS England is responsible for commissioning primary dental services according to local need.

NHS England is also supporting children to access NHS dental services with outreach schemes such as Starting Well run by NHS England targeting children in 13 high needs areas not yet in touch with a dentist.