Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the proportion of NHS expenditure allocated to primary care dentistry net of patient charge revenue compared with other areas of NHS primary care in each financial year since 2010/11.

Prior to 2023/24, there was no specific dental budget allocation and dentistry formed part of a wider budget including community pharmacy and optometry. Since 2023/24, there has been a specific dental ringfence allocation for integrated care boards. This includes primary, secondary and community dentistry and is set net of patient charges.

The attached table sets out actual spend on different aspects of primary care for 2013/14 onwards, with previous comparable figures not being available as they predate the creation of NHS England.