Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of eligibility requirements for Employment Allowance relief on decisions by dental practices to maintain their NHS commitments.

HM Treasury has provided funding to cover the additional cost of employer National Insurance contributions for public sector employers only. This is based on the Office for National Statistics definition of public sector organisations and does not include independent primary care contractors such as dentists.

We recognise this is disappointing, but we have had to take necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances. The National Health Service in England invests approximately £4 billion on dentistry every year, of which £3 billion is spent on primary care dentistry. NHS planning guidance is now published and sets out funding available to integrated care boards for 2025/2026.