Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of children in Great Yarmouth constituency that were unable to access an NHS dental appointment in the last 12 months.

Data is not held on the number of children in the Great Yarmouth constituency that were unable to access a National Health Service dental appointment in the last 12 months.

The data for the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, which includes the Great Yarmouth constituency, shows that 55% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months up to June 2025, compared to 57% in England. This year, resources have also been provided to Norfolk County Council to support 5,605 children through the national supervised toothbrushing programme.

On 16 December, we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on interim improvements to the NHS dental contract. The changes will be introduced from April 2026. These reforms will put patients with greatest need first, incentivising urgent care and complex treatments, and will reduce clinically unnecessary check-ups. More information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms/outcome/government-response-to-consultation-on-nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms