Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to implement the commitments relating to children’s oral health contained in the Advancing on health: prevention in the 2020's consultation document, published in July 2019.

The Government’s Green Paper, Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s, published in July, commits to consulting next year on options for rolling out a national school toothbrushing scheme in more pre-school settings and primary schools in England. These proposals will aim to reach the most deprived 3-5 year olds in all areas of the country and will look to reach 30% by 2022.

The Green Paper consultation included a question on the role that water companies can play in supporting water fluoridation initiatives. The consultation closed on 14 October and we are currently analysing responses. In addition, we will also be exploring ways of removing the funding barriers to encourage more local areas that are interested in fluoridating water to come forward with proposals.