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 increase access to NHS dental services in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

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 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 retention of NHS dentists.

We recognise that access to NHS dental care in Lincolnshire has been challenging over recent years. The Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), which includes South Holland and the Deepings constituency, has taken a number of steps to help improve access in this area, but we know more must be done. The steps that the Lincolnshire ICB has recently taken to improve access includes uplifting the minimum Unit of Dental Activity rate to £28 across the region, to help recruit and retain staff, and implementing the New Patient Premium.