Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 14
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)
The NAO’s report found that the plan was not on track to deliver the expected number of additional courses of treatment.37 When the report was published in November 2024: • fewer new patients had been treated under the NPP than in the equivalent period in the previous year; • no data was available on the UDA uplift; 38 • only one ‘golden hello’ dentist had been appointed; and • mobile dental vans had been abandoned as a national initiative and left for local commissioners to procure if they wished to.39 32 DHSC, Consultation outcome: consultation on community water fluoridation expansion in the north east of England: government response, published 7 March 2025 33 Q 17 34 C&AG’s Report, Figure 10 35 C&AG’s Report, para 13 36 C&AG’s Report, para 2 37 C&AG’s Report, para 16 38 C&AG’s Report, para 16 39 C&AG’s Report, Figure 11 12
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.