HC Deb 18 June 1979 vol 968 cc418-9W
Mr. Pavitt

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the reply he sent to the secretary of the British Dental Association in response to his letter dated 22 May.

Mr. Patrick Jenkin

Following is the text of my replyThank you for your letter of 22 May about dental charges. I am grateful to the British Dental Association for letting me have their views on this matter and for the details of the resolutions passed at the Annual Conference of Local Dental Committees. I am aware of speculation in newspapers and elsewhere about dental charges. This is not surprising bearing in mind the Government's need to look afresh at all forms of public expenditure including the cost of the NHS General Dental Services. Our review is not yet complete and it would be wrong of me to anticipate the outcome. At this stage all I feel that I can do is to repeat the statement made by the Secretary of State for Scotland in the debate on the Queen's Speech that no government would ever give an undertaking that they would never in their career increase any of the charges. As to the Local Dental Committees' resolutions on extending exemption arrangements I am certainly sympathetic towards any patient who is likely to have difficulty in meeting the cost of treatment. As you know arrangements exist for the remission of dental charges for such patients. The handicapped and the elderly are not necessarily worse off than any other patients where finding the cost of treatment is concerned. Of course if because of his circumstances a handicapped or elderly patient is poorly off and therefore would have difficulty in paying the dental charge then in all probability he is already entitled to full or partial remission of the charge through existing arrangements. I feel that it is right that, with the important exceptions of children, expectant mothers, and women who have had a baby in the previous twelve months, arrangements for free treatment should relate to the patient's means not to his or her medical condition or age."