Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 24 April 2017 to Question 70314, what progress his Department has made on determining the scope of and implementing the early intervention scheme for oral health.

At the request of Ministers, NHS England is setting up a scheme in 13 high needs areas to improve the oral health of young children. The scheme will be based in dental practices and will have a particular focus on those children who do not currently visit the dentist. The scheme is expected to be launched in the next few months and will be funded from existing dental resources, including unused units of dental activity. Evaluation has been designed in from the start and the learning, once available, will inform the approach going forward.

NHS England advises that the West Midlands scheme is still under consideration following local discussions this month. The scheme would incentivise dentists to see more children under the age of two. Decisions on the future of the scheme are expected to be taken next month.