§ Mr. Gareth Wardellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is taking steps to introduce a system similar to the Scottish system for recording all information about the dental treatment of children in England.
§ Mr. John PattenThe systems for recording information about the dental treatment of children in the General Dental Services are already similar in England and Scotland. Because of the substantially larger number of estimate forms involved, however, it is not possible at present for the Dental Estimates Board in England to link the forms relating to individual children when they have been treated by more than one dental practice. The possibility of achieving such linkage is however under consideration. In the Community Dental Service returns are made in Scotland for each individual course of treatment whereas in England statistics are aggregated. The provision of statistics in the community dental service is being examined as part of the overall review of Health Service information.