Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) provide funding and (b) improve access to NHS dental practices in Ashfield constituency.

Responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population, has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICB) across England. For the Ashfield constituency, this is the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges patients face when trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, and to recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists. The Government will also introduce a supervised tooth-brushing scheme for three- to five-year-olds, targeting the areas of highest need.