Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Dental Contract Reform: Prototypes pilot in (a) improving the quality of dental care and (b) improving access to dental care.

The Government is committed to replacing the current National Health Service dental contract with one that better rewards dentists for improving the oral health of their patients in addition to providing treatment where needed.

The dental pilots which ran from 2011-16 tested a new way of delivering care focussed on prevention. Based on the learning from that scheme, 79 high street practices are continuing to test the prevention based clinical pathway with the addition of testing a possible new remuneration system.

The prototype scheme evaluation is expected during 2017-18. The evaluation will be overseen by an evidence and learning group, which includes clinical and stakeholder representation. If successful the new system could start to be rolled out nationally from 2018-19.