Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure that additional urgent dental appointments are distributed equitably across Integrated Care Boards; and what the target number is for Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. The ICBs have been asked to start making extra urgent dental appointments available from April 2025. The Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB is expected to deliver 13,990 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.

The methodology used to determine how to allocate the 700,000 appointments across the ICBs has considered factors including unmet need, population size, and projected contract delivery at an ICB level in 2024/25. Details can be found in the letter sent to the ICBs on 21 February 2025 in Annex A, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/arrangements-for-nhs-urgent-primary-dental-care-during-2025-26-and-confirmation-of-the-closure-of-the-new-patient-premium-scheme/