§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of dental contract holders in each health authority area have had(a) an increase in the number of registrations and (b) a decrease in the number of registrations in the most recent year for which figures are available. [74262]
§ Mr. DenhamInformation on the percentage of dental contract holders having a National Health Service list which increased or decreased between January 1998 and January 1999 (the latest date for which information is available) has been placed in the Library. The percentage increases and decreases may not add to 100 because some dentists will have an unchanged list size. The comparisons are for dentists with contracts open at both January 1998 and January 1999 and exclude dentists with no registrations on both dates. Dentists with contracts in several health authorities are counted in each health authority in which they have a contract but only once in the England total. The comparisons between January 1998 and January 1999 are affected by the reduction in the registration period to 15 months.
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is the average length of time taken to process grant applications under the Investing in Dentistry Scheme; [74260]
(2) Health what percentage of the Investing in Dentistry Scheme funding has been spent on (a) set up costs and (b) gross fees. [74261]
§ Mr. DenhamEach investing in dentistry funding request is dealt with as quickly as possible. The time taken to process a grant application depends on many factors, including the number of proposals received, the complexity of the request, and whether further information is required before a decision can be made.
To date, just over £7.5 million of investing in dentistry grants have been approved to enable over 600,000 patients to register with an National Health Service dentist, giving rise to treatment costs estimated to be around £2.5 million in 1998–99.