§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish the information that his Department holds on those schools in Wales which show a high incidence of dental caries.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettStandardised small district data are not held centrally. However, data are held by DHAs for assessing local health needs and it is intended that these should be published by districts as part of the report by their director of dental public health. The first reports are due to be prepared by September 1991 to inform the annual review meetings of each DHA.
§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of effect of the new capitation system on the treatment of children by general dental practitioners.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettIt is still too early to assess the effect of the capitation arrangements on the treatment of children. By the beginning of June about 308,000 children in Wales had been registered under the capitation arrangements. This compares well with the amount of treatment given under the old arrangements.
Health departments are carefully monitoring the new contract. The main principles, such as capitation, are established but a number of detailed changes have been made in response to representations from dentists and such fine tuning will continue where necessary.