Written question asked by Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 18 June 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 2 July 2026. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Tuesday, 30 June 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Dental Services

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government how many dentists had a primary or majority commitment to NHS dentistry, for each of the past five years for which figures are available.

Answer

The Department does not hold information on the number of dentists whose primary or majority commitment was to National Health Service dentistry in each of the last five years.

The annual NHS dental statistics published by the NHS Business Services Authority show the number of dentists who performed any amount of NHS dental activity in England in the last five financial years. The following table shows the number of dentists performing NHS work in the last five financial years:

Financial year	Number of dentists performing NHS work
2020/21	23,733
2021/22	24,265
2022/23	24,151
2023/24	24,307
2024/25	24,655

Source: Dental statistics - England 2024/25, available on the NHS Business Services Authority website.

The NHS Dental Workforce Survey also collects data on the proportion of dentists’ time spent on NHS and private work in practices with NHS contracts. The latest data available relates to December 2024 and is available on the NHS.UK website.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: HL1115
Session: 2026-27
Subjects: Dental services
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk

Dental Services

Secondary information

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