Rupa Huq Labour, Ealing Central and Acton

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential health risks of water fluoridation.

Maria Caulfield The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is required to monitor the effects of water fluoridation schemes on the health of people living in the areas with water fluoridation. There is also a duty to publish a report of an analysis of those effects of water fluoridation on the health of people every four years. The last report, published in 2018, agreed with a number of authoritative reviews there is no convincing evidence that water fluoridation is harmful to health at the levels seen in water fluoridation schemes in the United Kingdom. The next report is due to be published later this year. Relevant new scientific literature will continue to be monitored.