Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 10
21st Report - Fixing NHS Dentistry
Published 4 Apr 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Fixing NHS Dentistry All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
DHSC told us that issues with NHS dentistry pre–date the 2006 contract, and that with any change since the 1990s, “things have got worse”.18 DHSC began attempts at contract reform in 2010, testing changes through a prototype programme which combined payment by activity with a fixed amount paid per registered patient. Further prototype contracts ran between 2016 and 2019, but these arrangements ended in 2022 with DHSC concluding that the prototype had led to reductions in access and activity.19 In 2022, the first changes to the 2006 contract were introduced, including: • dividing band 2 treatments into three categories to reflect different complexities of treatment; • introducing a minimum indicative UDA value of £23; and 12 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, 18 March 2025 13 FND0002, see page 4 14 FND0007, see page 3 15 FND0007, see page 2 16 FND0011, see page 2 17 C&AG’s Report, Figure 9 18 Q 82 19 C&AG’s Report, para 1.24 10 • enabling commissioners to address worsening access due to persistently under–delivering dental contractors.20
From: Public Accounts Committee, 21st Report - Fixing NHS Dentistry (HC 648), 4 April 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-first Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-first report from Session 2024-26
Published 18 September 2025.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-first report from Session 2024-25
Published 10 July 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on each recommendation set out in the response, giving target dates for several actions and noting that dental contract reform "will take time".
- On contract reform, a realistic timetable for a new contract "will be determined by the scale of changes under consideration and following consultation". Amendments to the current contract would be expected in 2026-27, "subject to consultation and any necessary regulatory changes".
- On the dental recovery plan, NHSE is to write to the Committee in Autumn 2025 with its analysis of the main initiatives. Dental vans are excluded because the government "decided not to implement a national programme of mobile dental vans".
- On funding for 2025-26, NHSE "would also note that there has been no reduction in dental funding", and says the ringfence rises from £3,974 million to £4,104 million and is extended into 2026-27.
- On the workforce, the department will "carefully consider the outcome of the consultation" on a graduate "tie-in" and then publish its response, with a target date of Winter 2025.