§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what criteria were used to allocate the 499W funds which were announced in "Modernising NHS Dentistry: Implementing the NHS Plan" to improve access to NHS dentistry; [88365]
(2) if he will list the name of each dental practice and dental access centre that has received money from the funds that were made available to NHS dentistry which were announced in the Government's dental strategy, "Modernising NHS Dentistry: Implementing the NHS Plan", broken down by primary care trust. [88366]
§ Mr. LammySome of the funding announced in "Modernising NHS Dentistry: Implementing the NHS Plan- was paid to the then health authorities to pass on to individual dental practices in accordance with local needs. Information is not held centrally on which individual practices received the money.
The funds of £25 million revenue and £7 million capital announced in "Modernising NHS Dentistry: Implementing the NHS Plan" were made available to the following 27 dental access centres:
- Avon
- Bury and Rochdale
- East Kent
- Gloucestershire
- Hereford
- Hull and East Riding
- Kings Lynn and Wisbech
- Lincolnshire
- Milton Keynes
- Morecambe Bay
- North Cumbria
- North and East Devon
- North Mersey
- North Staffordshire
- Oxfordshire
- Peterborough
- Portsmouth and South East Hampshire
- Plymouth
- Shropshire
- Somerset
- South Cheshire
- South Staffordshire
- Surrey (East and West)
- Victoria Mill
- Warrington
- Warwickshire
- Worcestershire
While individual primary care trusts (PCTs) have been identified to take lead responsibility for each dental access centre, the service is available to patients regardless of where they live. A single dental access centre may be providing services from a number of different sites located within more than one PCT.
The criteria used to allocate the Modernisation Fund of £35 million have been placed in the Library.
Allocations of the £4 million Dental Care Development Fund and the subsequent £6 million Dentistry Action Plan monies were based on (in order of importance):
a) health authorities' reports to the Department on the situation in their areas;500W(b) estimates of the percentage of national health service dental surgeries taking on new patients, based on new registrations reported to the dental practice board;(c) the change in NHS adult registrations between June 1999 and June 2000;(d) the area not covered by NHS surgeries taking on new patients; and(e) existing and prospective schemes to improve NHS dental availability—i.e. dental access centres, personal dental service projects and investing in dentistry schemes.Dental practices were able to use the dental care development fund money to expand their surgeries or buy extra equipment, for example, and were expected to treat an agreed number of additional NHS patients in return.
§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what funds have been made available to dentists for(a) the establishment of new NHS practices and (b) the refurbishment and extension of existing NHS dental practices in the last 12 months. [88364]
§ Mr. LammyThe modernisation fund, the dental care development fund and the dentistry action plan fund were made available in 2001–02 to health authorities (HAs) and primary care trusts (PCTs) to improve local access to national health service dentistry. These monies could be used towards the establishment of new NHS dental practices or refurbishment and extension of existing ones. Information about funding allocated, including any financial contributions from the NHS locally to individual practices by HAs or PCTs, is not held centrally.