Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of dentistry schools in rural areas.

We acknowledge that there are areas of the country that are experiencing recruitment and retention issues and we are taking steps to address the workforce challenges across the country, including in rural areas.

We are currently working with partners to assess the capacity within existing dental schools to accommodate the proposed expansion in training places set out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. Work is also underway through the establishment of Centres for Dental Development to bring together dental education and training with service delivery models, particularly in areas where there is a shortage of workforce relative to population need.