Prime Minister's question asked in the House of Commons, by Mark Pritchard (Conservative). It was answered on Wednesday, 6 July 2005 on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Engagements

Question: Will the Deputy Prime Minister take the opportunity to apologise to my constituent, Miss Emma Walker of Leegomery, who has been suffering from toothache for over 12 months? Despite 25 attempts, she is still unable to register with an NHS dentist. What is the Deputy Prime Minister going to do about it?

Answer: The hon. Gentleman should take into account what happened to dentistry under the previous Administration. The Tories closed down two training schools, and introduced a new contract that drove most dentists into the private sector. We have been trying to deal with those difficulties. Let me give him some facts. The number of primary care dentists has gone up from 16,700 in 1997 to over 20,000. Our target to recruit the equivalent of 1,000 dentists by October will mean 2 million more people can be treated. Those are the improvements that we have achieved after the mess that we inherited. Fifty-three dental access centres provide treatment for over 400,000 people. We recognise the difficulties, but we are dealing with them and are making improvements. That was covered in a recent debate in the House, when it was made clear that major improvements are coming—not enough, but they are on the way. We are going in the right direction, because we believe in a national health service, not a privatised one.

Secondary information