HC Deb 01 May 2002 vol 384 cc874-5W
Mr. Burns

To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Government plan to publish their Options for Change: NHS Dentistry proposals; if he will make a statement. [53536]

Ms Blears

The Options for Change group, led by the Chief Dental Officer, and including key stakeholders, have submitted their draft recommendations to Ministers to restore national health service dentistry, building on the Government's strategy document "Modernising NHS Dentistry: Implementing the NHS Plan", published in September 2000.

The ideas behind 'Options for Change' need practical testing and we announced on 25 April that we plan to set up demonstration sites across the country, with the assistance of the NHS Modernisation Agency. The sites will explore a variety of new methods for providing NHS dentistry, such as allowing primary care trusts to commission all NHS dental services and allowing dentists to choose to work in different ways at different times.

We plan to publish a report on their work in due course.