Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department issues guidance to integrated care boards on agreeing bespoke contractual arrangements with dental practices for NHS dental provision.

Since 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care, including dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. Dental contracts are underpinned by the nationally defined General Dental Service (GDS) contract, or a Personal Dental Service (PDS) Agreements and NHS England supports ICBs with their local commissioning responsibilities for primary dental services with the provision of nationally agreed policies and procedures.

NHS England has also published guidance to support commissioners to take advantage of the opportunities offered to commission further and additional services through flexible commissioning, which enables the responsible commissioner to tailor services to meet local population oral health needs. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/opportunities-for-flexible-commissioning-in-primary-care-dentistry-a-framework-for-commissioners/