Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of NHS dentistry in Surrey Heath constituency.

Data on dental activity is available at an integrated care board (ICB) level. Information on dental statistics for England for 2023/24, published by the 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

The data for the NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB, which includes the Surrey Heath constituency, shows that 33% of adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the previous 24 months up to June 2024, compared to 40% in England, and that 55% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months up to June 2024, compared to 56% in England.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care, and work is underway to ensure that patients can access the 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments, with ICBs having been asked to make these available from 1 April 2025.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the ICBs across England.