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 with Cabinet colleagues of the adequacy of access to NHS dentistry in new developments in West Dorset constituency.

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

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

The data for the NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board, which includes the West Dorset constituency, shows that 36% 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 52% 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 with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.