Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding levels for NHS Dentists in the South West of England; and if his Department will draw up plans on how to use additional funding for the NHS as announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 to provide more dental appointments in the South West of England.

A budget of £3.8 billion for primary, community, and secondary dentistry has been allocated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England for 2024/25, to deliver new initiatives and address the challenges facing National Health Service dentistry. Allocations for 2025/26 will be confirmed shortly, and long-term funding will be considered during phase 2 of the Spending Review, which will set budgets for 2026/27 to 2028/29.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges patients face when trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most.

Responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the ICBs across England. For the Tiverton and Minehead constituency, this is the NHS Somerset ICB.