Dental Services: Contracts
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of variation in Unit of Dental Activity (UDA) values between NHS dental contracts within the same Integrated Care Board area on users; and what guidance is provided to Integrated Care Boards on addressing historical differences in UDA contract values.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock
From 1 April 2023, commissioning responsibility for primary care dentistry transferred to integrated care boards, including the duty to assess local oral health needs and set commissioning priorities. NHS England has issued an Assurance Framework to support safe and effective delivery of these functions, alongside guidance issued in 2022 on the use of flexible commissioning. As of 2024, a minimum unit of dental activity (UDA) value of £28 is in place to support practices with historically low UDA rates. This guidance incudes advice on amending UDA values, which are available at the following link:
The Government is committed to fundamental contract reform by the end of this Parliament, and we have been working to scope potential changes that will deliver genuine improvements for both patients and the profession.
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