§ Miss Maynardasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the average current earnings of Health Service workers for the last full year.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeFollowing are examples of the estimated average gross weekly earnings for selected grades of National Health Service staff for 1981–82, together with the estimated value of the current proposals under the financial framework proposed for the years 1982–83 and 1983–84, subject to the outcome of negotiations in the Whitley Councils.
widely considered to have resulted from a combination of factors, of which the increased use of fluoride toothpaste is an important one.
§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate he has made of the proportion of children in the population in 1982 without any tooth decay; and to what extent the number of caries-free children has increased during the past 10 years.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergSuch information is not at present available but a survey on children's dental health 271W in the United Kingdom to be carried out in 1983 by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys on behalf of the health departments will permit comparisons to be made with a similar survey which was carried out in 1973.
§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what evidence he has as to the extent of the decline in the incidence of dental caries in schoolchildren compared with the level obtaining (a) 15 years ago and (b) 10 years ago (i) in areas with water fluoridation and (ii) in areas without water fluoridation.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThe first national survey of children's dental health took place in 1973. A further survey is due to take place in 1983, the main purpose of which will be to measure any changes that have occurred in the dental health of children in England and Wales since 1973. Such national studies have not been used to measure the effectiveness of fluoridation. However, epidemiological surveys to measure the prevalance of dental caries in children have also been carried out by many health authorities and independent researchers. While the Department does not collect centrally comprehensive information on all such studies, in general the results show a marked reduction in the prevalence of dental caries over recent years, particularly in those areas where water supplies are fluoridated.