Dental Services: Expenditure
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much has been spent on primary care NHS dental services per head of population in England in real terms in each of the last 10 years (a) inclusive and (b) exclusive of the patient charge revenue.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock
Dental expenditure and patient charge revenue data is published each year in NHS England’s annual accounts. The annual accounts for 2024/25 have not yet been published, and so the latest published accounts data is for 2023/24.
The following table shows the expenditure per head of population in England in real terms, inclusive and exclusive of patient charge revenue:
Financial year | Price per head of population, real terms at 2023/4 prices | |
| Inclusive of patient charge revenue | Exclusive of patient charge revenue |
2014/15 | £74.36 | £57.26 |
2015/16 | £77.92 | £60.42 |
2016/17 | £66.34 | £48.63 |
2017/18 | £65.71 | £47.70 |
2018/19 | £63.46 | £44.86 |
2019/20 | £65.22 | £47.32 |
2020/21 | £61.26 | £55.69 |
2021/22 | £62.13 | £49.42 |
2022/23 | £56.04 | £42.19 |
2023/24 | £53.87 | £40.41 |
Notes:
- in 2016/17, NHS England’s accounts recorded a significant fall in dental services due to the improved allocation of costs between primary care and secondary dental services. The figures for earlier years are therefore not directly comparable;
- the population has been based on the England population mid-year estimate time series, published by the Office for National Statistics. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/timeseries/enpop/pop; and - conversion to real terms costs has been calculated using gross domestic product deflator rates as per the latest publication, in June 2025. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gdp-deflators-at-market-prices-and-money-gdp-june-2025-quarterly-national-accounts.
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