Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 21
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)
Given this error, NHSE assured us that additional analytical resources would be put in place for the dental service, which would in future be designated a “business–critical model”.59 We were told that there had been 51 DHSC, Faster, simpler and fairer: our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry, published 7 February 2024 52 C&AG’s Report, para 12 53 Q 57 54 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 55 C&AG’s Report, Figure 10 56 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 57 C&AG’s Report, para 13 58 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 59 Q 2 14 quality assurance in place on the figures in the plan, although we note that the NAO found a lack of analysis on why the costs between initiatives were allocated as they were and that it was unclear how NHSE’s models had arrived at the final numbers included and published in the plan.60 Concerns about the quality of the modelling involved were raised by the Health and Social Care Committee in March 2024, when the then responsible minister acknowledged that there was a “high likelihood” of the modelling not being reliable.61 Delivering changes at a local or central level
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.