Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to NHS dental services in (a) Beckenham and Penge and (b) England.

The Dental Statistics - England 2023-24, published by NHS Business Services Authority on 22 August 2024, is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324

In NHS South East London Integrated Care Board, which includes Beckenham and Penge constituency, 43% of adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the previous 24 months to June 2024, compared to 40% in England; and 57% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months to June 2024, compared to 56% in England.

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