Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 28
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)
There is also a clear sense that UDA rates do not sufficiently distinguish between the different levels of complexity and cost attached to various treatments. This is despite the government decision in 2022 to split up band 2 treatments into three separate bands each attracting a different number of UDAs. This was in acknowledgement of the fact that there are different costs associated with, for example, treating someone for one filling compared with performing molar endodontics on permanent teeth.84 Many stakeholders feel that this does not go far enough, however, with submissions to us pointing out that one filling can still be reimbursed to the same level as a treatment requiring five fillings.85 NHSE confirmed that the later decision to set the minimum UDA value at £28 was not based on modelling relating to costs, but was based on how much they could lift the rate and drive greater activity rather than an actual understanding of the costs of the treatments. NHS England told us that it is committed to modelling this costing going forward and engaging with the sector to understand it properly.86 NHS dental workforce
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.