§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what additional funding has been provided since 1997 to secure provision of NHS dental treatment in Devon and Cornwall; [129207]
(2) what percentage of the £60 million extra funding for NHS dentistry announced earlier this year (a) has gone and (b) will go towards improving NHS dental treatment in (i) Cornwall and (ii) Devon; [129208]
(3) what plans he has to provide additional funding for the provision of NHS dental treatment in Devon and Cornwall. [129206]
§ Mr. HuttonWe have already made good progress towards improving access to dental services in Cornwall and Devon. Investing in Dentistry grants amounting to £1,095,165 have been approved in the area in return for promises of up to 110,200 new National Health Service registrations. Since 1998, a dental access centre pilot has been operational in Cornwall and the NHS Executive is currently working with North East Devon and South West Devon Health Authorities to develop two further dental access centres.
We have accepted in full the recommendations of the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body, which include an annual £17 million scheme to reward the loyalty and commitment of NHS dentists in England.
The NHS Executive wrote on 16 May to all health authority chief executives asking them to tell us whether more needs to be done to improve NHS dentistry in their locality and inviting ideas for potential funding.
Further initiatives to improve access to services will form part of our plans for modernising NHS dentistry, which will be published this summer in conjunction with the National Plan for the New NHS.