UK Inquiry Tracker

Fixing NHS Dentistry

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 15 Jan 2025 Closed: 16 Jun 2025 Parliament page

Two-fifths of the adult population in England saw an NHS dentist in the 24 months up to March 2024 – this is down from just under half of the adult population pre-pandemic. There were 483 fewer dentists providing some NHS care in England in 2023-24 compared with 2019-20. The previous … Read more Two-fifths of the adult population in England saw an NHS dentist in the 24 months up to March 2024 – this is down from just under half of the adult population pre-pandemic. There were 483 fewer dentists providing some NHS care in England in 2023-24 compared with 2019-20. The previous Government published its Dental Recovery Plan in February 2024. This aimed to increase access to NHS dentistry services, aspiring to deliver more than 1.5m additional courses of treatment, or 2.5m appointments total, in 2024-25. The Health and Social Care Committee launched an inquiry into NHS dentistry in 2022, following a survey that showed 90% of practices across the UK were not accepting new adult NHS patients. Its 2023 report called for a Fundamental reform of NHS dentistry to end a ‘crisis of access’. The Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) 2019 report into penalty charge notices in healthcare found that the rules for claiming free prescriptions and dental treatment were confusing and needed to be changed. The National Audit Office published its own report conclusions from its investigation into the Dental Recovery Plan in November 2024 . It found that the plan was unlikely to deliver its target of 1.5m additional treatments, and that even if the target was reached, it would still be 2.6m fewer treatments per year than pre-pandemic levels. It further highlighted a £392m underspend in 2023-24 across the NHS dental budget. Based on the NAO report, the PAC will hear from senior Government officials on delivery of better access to NHS dentistry and progress on the plan, with likely topics including: The dental contract; Falls in the number of dentists; The current picture on Government spending to support access to NHS dentistry. The Committee is unable to help with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues . Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. If you have evidence on this issue, please submit it here by 23:59 on Thursday 30 January. Show less

1 Recommendation

32 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

4 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 9 events

8 Jan
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the National Director for Primary Care and Community Services at NHS England relating to Recommendation 2a of the Committee’s T…

1 Dec
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the National Director for Primary Care and Community Services at NHS England relating to the Committee’s Twenty-first Report on…

18 Sep
2025

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-first report from Session 2024-26

10 Jul
2025

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-first report from Session 2024-25

4 Apr
2025

Report published

21st Report - Fixing NHS Dentistry

27 Mar
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Interim Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Chief Executive Officer at NHS England rela…

13 Feb
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

13 Feb
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Interim Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Chief Executive Officer at NHS England rela…

13 Feb
2025

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Committee event

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

13 Feb 2025

View on parliament.uk

Ali Sparke · NHS England Amanda Pritchard · NHS England Jason Wong MBE · NHS England Jonathan Marron CB · Department of Health and Social Care Sir Chris Whitty · Department of Health and Social Care

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
21st Report - Fixing NHS Dentistry	HC 648	4 Apr 2025	33	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

4 results

18 Conclusion Accepted in Part

21st Report - Fixing NHS Dentistry

Dental recovery plan ambition misaligned with targets, failing to ensure universal access

The initial announcement of the dental recovery plan claimed that its aim was to “significantly expand access so that everyone who needs to see a dentist will be able to”.51 However, that ambition was never aligned to the actual targets … Read more

Government Response

The government commits to NHSE carrying out analysis of the New Patient Premium, Golden Hellos, and UDA uplift initiatives, with data collected by July 2025 and a detailed breakdown provided by Autumn 2025, which will help assess the plan's impact.

HM Treasury

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22 Conclusion Accepted in Part

21st Report - Fixing NHS Dentistry

Integrated Care Boards hold delegated responsibility and flexibilities for local dental service commissioning

Responsibility for commissioning dental services was delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) in April 2023.62 Within the national dental contractual framework, ICBs have some flexibilities that NHSE says should help them to tailor services to meet specific population needs.63 This … Read more

Government Response

The government acknowledges the importance of strengthening engagement with ICBs and reaffirms their crucial role in local decision-making and dental contract reform. NHSE is actively engaging ICBs on policy implementation and will further enhance this through engagement and wider consultation on 2026 Payment and Quality reforms.

HM Treasury

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24 Conclusion Accepted in Part

21st Report - Fixing NHS Dentistry

National mobile dental van initiative proved ineffective; no Integrated Care Boards invested

The idea of identifying ICBs to commission mobile dental vans seems a particular example of an ineffective interaction between a national policy and an appropriate measure on the ground. NHSE and DHSC identified twelve ICBs to deliver the initiative,69 but … Read more

Government Response

The government acknowledges the need to strengthen relationships with ICBs and reaffirms the importance of local decision-making. NHSE has taken active steps to engage ICBs on policy implementation and upcoming reforms, including future engagement and a wider consultation for 2026 Payment and Quality reforms.

HM Treasury

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29 Conclusion Accepted in Part

21st Report - Fixing NHS Dentistry

NHS dental workforce declines, facing over 5,500 unfilled vacancies nationally

The NAO reported that in 2023–24 there were 24,193 dentists providing some NHS dental care in England, a 2% decline on the total since 2019–20.87 NHSE data outlines that there is a large workforce gap that exists in NHS dentistry, … Read more

Government Response

The government states it is addressing immediate challenges by delivering 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments from April 2025 and implementing the Golden Hello scheme, which has recruited 45 dentists and has 250 posts advertised. It also mentions longer-term plans for contract reform, a 10 Year Health Plan (Summer 2025), and a refreshed long-term workforce plan to be published.

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 32 of 1 classified

Accepted 13

Accepted in Part 4

Acknowledged 1

Deferred 14

Total 1 rec + 32 conclusions

Correspondence 4 letters

8 Jan 2026 To committee Letter from the National Director for Primary Care and Community Services at NHS England relating to Recommendation 2a of the Committee’s Twenty-first Report on Fixing NHS Dentistry, 30 December 2025

Parliament page

1 Dec 2025 To committee Letter from the National Director for Primary Care and Community Services at NHS England relating to the Committee’s Twenty-first Report on Fixing NHS Dentistry, 26 November 2025

Parliament page

27 Mar 2025 To committee Letter from the Interim Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Chief Executive Officer at NHS England relating to a follow up on the oral evidence session held on 13 February 2025 on Fixing NHS Dentistry, providing updates on “Golden Hellos, Rebasing contracts and contract reform, 18 March 2025

Parliament page

13 Feb 2025 To committee Letter from the Interim Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Chief Executive Officer at NHS England relating to the modelling error in the plan to reform NHS Dentistry, 11 February 2025

Parliament page