Written question asked by Jonathan Reynolds (Labour) on Tuesday, 30 November 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 2 December 2010. It was answered by Simon Burns (Conservative) on Tuesday, 7 December 2010 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dental Services

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment the Secretary of State has made of the adequacy of provision of dentistry services on the NHS.

Answer: Primary care trusts are currently responsible for commissioning sufficient primary care dentistry to meet local demand. Under the proposals set out in the White Paper ““Equity and Excellence Liberating the NHS””, the NHS Commissioning Board would, subject to the outcome of consultation and parliamentary approval, take on responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry and, if locally required, increasing those services to meet demand.The latest statistics on access to national health service dentistry show that in the 24 months up to 30 September 2010, 28.7 million individuals saw an NHS dentist (55.8% of the population), an increase of 242,000 since May 2010. The GP Patient survey for April-June 2010 found that 93% of people who tried to make an appointment with an NHS dentist in the previous two years said they had been successful.

Secondary information