Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of provision of NHS dentists in Suffolk Coastal constituency.

On 7 February, we published Faster, simpler and fairer: our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry, which is backed by £200 million and will fund around 2.5 million additional appointments. The plan sets out our actions to improve dental access for patients across the country to address the challenges facing NHS dentistry, including in Suffolk.

From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board is responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment across the ICB area.

NHS Dental Statistics, published by NHS Digital, provides data on dental activity in England. The latest annual report is available online at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics