HC Deb 22 July 2004 vol 424 cc627-9W
Mr. Best

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce a returners scheme for NHS dental practitioners.[183328]

Ms Rosie Winterton

A scheme for dental returners was launched in June. This provides incentives for dentists to return to practice. It is operated by the recruitment and returning advisers in each strategic health authority who liase with individual dentists and assess the level of support they may need.

Mr. Wiggin

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the level of Government funding for dentistry services was in(a) Wales, (b) England, (c) Herefordshire and (d) Worcestershire in each year since 1997. [183946]

Ms Rosie Winterton

The gross and net fees paid to dentists for the provision of general dental services (GDS) represent the main element of primary dental care costs and are the data most readily available by health authority area. Data since 1997 is shown in the table. These figures exclude some payments to dentists such as commitment payments, maternity and seniority payments as well as superannuation payments made on their behalf. There is a discontinuity in the figures for Hampshire and Worcestershire in the middle of 2002–03 because of the change in health administration areas.

Community, personal and hospital dental services have not been included in this table; these are directly commissioned by individual health authorities from locally managed resources rather than funded from a central national budget as is the case with the GDS.

NHS dental service: gross and net fees paid for by the GDS March ending each year
£ million
Year/health authority (HA)/primary care trust (PCT) Gross fees Net fees1
1997–98
England 1,271.0 882.2
Wales 73.3 52.4
Herefordshire HA 4.5 2.8
Worcestershire HA 13.5 8.7
1998–99
England 1,351.90 931.8
Wales 78.4 55.9
Herefordshire HA 4.9 3.0
Worcestershire HA 13.9 9.1
1999–2000
England 1,394.3 962.1
Wales 81.8 58.1
Herefordshire HA 5.0 3.1
Worcestershire HA 14.3 9.3
2000–01
England 1,453.6 1,000.2
Wales 85.3 60.7
Herefordshire HA 5.0 3.2
Worcestershire HA 14.5 9.3
2001–02
England 1,502.3 1,032.3
Wales 87.7 63.2
Herefordshire HA 5.0 3.3
Worcestershire HA 14.9 9.7

NHS dental service: gross and net fees paid for by the GDS March ending each year
£ million
Year/health authority (HA)/primary care trust (PCT) Gross fees Net fees1
2002–03
First half of 2002–03
England 769.6 529.6
Wales 50.4 28.6
Herefordshire HA 2.4 1.6
Worcestershire HA 7.5 4.9
Second half of 2002-–03
England 774.1 532.5
Wales 45.9 32.9
Herefordshire PCT 2.3 1.6
South Worcestershire PCT 3.8 2.4
Redditch and Bromsgrove PCT 2.5 1.7
Wyre Forest PCT 1.5 1.0
2003–04
England 1,589.2 1,105.5
Wales 92.5 66.8
Herefordshire PCT 4.5 3.1
South Worcestershire PCT 7.9 5.2
Redditch and Bromsgrove PCT 5.3 3.6
Wyre Forest PCT 2.8 2.0
1Exclude patient charge

Mr. Evans

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists left the national health service in each of the last seven years. [185871]

1997 1998 1999 2000 2011 2002 2003 2004
Number printed n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,500 1,500 1,500
Number sold n/a 750 672 605 634 507 463 1342
Publication cost (£)2 n/a n/a n/a 37,865 42,253 31,668 18,282 27,626
Notes:
n/a = Information not available.
1The Stationery Office has indicated that it expects further sales of around 100 copies.
2 The publication costs are those that fall directly to the Department for design, typesetting and artwork. II remaining costs for printing and publication were met centrally by the Stationery Office