No such specific assessment has been made. Mental Health Support Teams work with young people and parents across wide areas of England, including Scarborough and Whitby, to support the mental health needs of children and young people in primary, secondary, and further education, providing early, evidence-based interventions that follow recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Up to 900,000 additional children and young people will have access to a National Health Service funded Mental Health Support Team in their school or college by Spring 2026, or 60% of pupils, and we are accelerating the rollout to reach full national coverage by 2029.

In 2025, 4,570 children and young people aged under 18 years old received at least one contact with an education-based mental health support team in the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board’s area.

In July 2025, the National Children’s Bureau published an independent Mental Health Support Teams evaluation report, Evaluating the implementation of the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper programme. The impacts and other details are set out in the report, which is available at the following link:

https://www.ncb.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/attachments/CYP%20MH%20GP%20survey%202024%20report%20-%20Mundy%20et%20al%20%282025%29.pdf

The Youth Guarantee will ensure that all 18-21 year olds have access to education and training opportunities or support to find work. All young people will have access to the same core national offer and entitlements under the Youth Guarantee. However, we know that the needs of young people and the labour market vary in different areas across England, so it is important that local areas are able to tailor the Youth Guarantee, so it best meets those needs. As a first step, the Get Britain Working White Paper announced funding for 8 Youth Guarantee Trailblazer areas in England in 2025/26. Learning from the Trailblazers will inform our approach in the future.

Our Youth Guarantee will ensure everyone aged 18-21 in England can access quality training, educational opportunities or help to find work - wherever they live.

Work is underway on the design and delivery of the new Youth Guarantee. We are unable to make an official assessment of the potential impact of the Youth Guarantee on young people in Scarborough and Whitby constituency at this early stage.

Dental Statistics - England 2023-24, published by the NHS Business Services Authority on 22 August 2024, is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324

The data for NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, which includes the Scarborough and Whitby constituency, shows that 42% of adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the previous 24 months, compared to 40% in England; and 60% of children were seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months, compared to 56% in England.

This Government is committed to tackling the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local populations and to determine the priorities for investment.

While the data is not held for 2010, as of 9 October 2024, there were 15 open dentistry practices in the Scarborough and Whitby constituency, two of which were showing as ‘accepting new adult patients when availability allows’ and four of which were showing as ‘accepting new child patients when availability allows’. This data is sourced from the Find a Dentist website, and is matched to constituencies based on the postcode data shown on the website, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist

The responsibility for commissioning primary care, including dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Scarborough and Whitby constituency, this would be the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB. According to the 2024 General Practice Patient Survey (GPPS), 25% of adults who tried to get a National Health Service dentist appointment in the last two years in the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB were unsuccessful, compared to 23% in England. This data is sourced from the GP Patient Survey Dental Statistics, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/2024/07/11/gp-patient-survey-dental-statistics-january-to-march-2024-england/

Data on the number of adults and children who do not have access to an NHS dentist is not available. However, the GPPS gives us an insight into how many people are unsuccessfully attempting to get a dentist appointment. The equivalent data for children is not available.

Information on the school workforce in England is published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistics release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

The number of teachers without qualified teacher status in all state funded schools in England, including a breakdown by primary and secondary, and by local authority, is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/29d83b82-2aba-44c7-bb82-08db371944c7.

Data relating to schools in individual constituencies can be found in the ‘teacher and support staff numbers by school’ file, within the additional supporting files section, available at: https://content.explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/api/releases/0728fb07-f014-492c-aac9-fd11bb441601/files/2dfcc772-c410-46ac-cb9d-08da713e9200.

There are 24,000 more teachers now than in 2010. The quality of teaching is the most important in school factor in improving outcomes for children, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Evidence is clear that high quality professional development can lead to improved pupil attainment.

The Department has invested in transforming training for teachers and head teachers. Every teacher and head teacher now has access to high quality, evidence based training and professional development at every stage of their career, starting with initial teacher training (ITT).

By 2024, a reformed ITT provider market will be delivering quality assured training leading to qualified teacher status (QTS) that places a greater emphasis than ever before on embedding structured practice into courses, ensuring trainees are ready to thrive in the classroom.

A new system of higher quality training provider partnerships will be supported by £36 million to introduce new Quality Requirements, including better training for mentors and the delivery of new, cutting edge, intensive training, and practice activity. Every teaching school hub will be involved in ITT to ensure that training places are available across the country.

QTS is considered desirable for teachers in most schools in England. In some schools, including academies, free schools, and independent schools, QTS is not a legal requirement. Academies have a fundamental freedom to employ talented people who do not necessarily have QTS.

Most teachers in all schools, including academies, have QTS and have undertaken initial teacher training. In the 2021/22 academic year, the latest data available, 14,771 teachers (headcount) did not have qualified teacher status, equivalent to 2.9% of teachers.

My right hon. Friend is correct. As I said earlier, the disastrous contract of 2006 is causing disincentives for NHS dentists to take on NHS work. I assure my right hon. Friend, however, that dental services in Scarborough are currently being commissioned by NHS England following the handing back of dental regional accountability. Procurement processes are in place, and a new practice is set to be in place by the summer.

Sadly, the situation in Scarborough and Whitby for patients seeking a new NHS dentist is no better than that in St Ives, with thousands of UDAs going unused. Dentists tell me that it would help to have a date for the end of the UDA system so that they could start recruiting staff and, in some cases, building new premises to deliver NHS dentistry to local people.

Q9

.

Mr Robert Goodwill (Scarborough and Whitby) (Con):

Back in 2004, Scarborough hit the national headlines when rumours of a new dental practice opening led to hundreds of people queuing round the block in the vain hope of registering as NHS patients. Today, while many better-off families continue to enjoy the discounted prices that the NHS offers, many children and vulnerable families still cannot register as NHS dental patients in Scarborough and Whitby. Does the Prime Minister agree that that needs fixing?

Yes, I totally agree with my right hon. Friend. That is why we are investing in the NHS, and we want the NHS to be a better place for the dental profession. Would it not be a fine thing if this House of Commons voted overwhelmingly—with all Members voting—for our package of measures to support the NHS?