HC Deb 14 February 1995 vol 254 cc626-7W
Dr. Godman

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the number of children and young persons who are currently providing a substantial amount of remedial care to sick, elderly and disabled relatives in(a) Inverclyde, (b) Strathclyde and (c) Scotland.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The only information available comes from the 1991 census of population and relates to "dependants". A dependant is defined as a person aged zero to 15, or a person aged 16 to 18 who has never married, is in full-time education and economically inactive, or a person with a limiting long-term illness whose economic activity is "permanently sick" or "retired". The table shows the number of households where all residents were dependants and the youngest was aged five to 18 and the oldest 19 or over. However, the figures give no indication as to whether the child(ren) in such households actually provide a substantial amount of care for the adult dependant(s). Households which contain a 16 to 18-year-old non-dependant and one or more older dependants are not included.

Number of households
Area
Inverclyde 78
Strathclyde 2,241
Scotland 3,369

Dentists and dental list numbers in Scotland
Financial year
1992–1993 1993–1994
Health board Dentists1 on HB lists Dental2 list number commencements Dental2 list number withdrawals Dentists1 on HB lists Dental2 list number commencements Dental2 list number withdrawals
Argyll and Clyde 211 41 16 205 28 30
Ayrshire and Arran 134 13 4 139 21 17
Greater Glasgow 417 63 19 428 79 70
Lanarkshire 189 18 14 193 22 16
Scotland—Total 1,745 310 132 1,792 339 306
1 Total number of individual dentists who practised during the financial year in each of the health boards. Dentists contracted to more than one health board are counted more than once. The total number of dentists shown in Scotland is the number of individual dentists with no double-counting.
2 A dentist may hold one or more list number. The table shows a count of the list numbers that commenced or were surrendered in the given period, not dentists. Dentists may surrender health board list number for a variety of reasons—including moving to another health board area, practice reorganisation, or retirement.

Dr. Godman

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many dentists in(a) Inverclyde and (b) Strathclyde have closed NHS registers to new patients in each year since 1992.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The information requested is not available. General dental practitioners on health board NHS dental lists are free to decide in each case whether to provide NHS treatment to an individual patient.

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