Written question asked by David Hinchliffe (Labour) on Friday, 17 September 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 21 October 2004. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Thursday, 21 October 2004 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that additional funds for primary care dentistry will be channelled towards dentists who have continued to maintain NHS care provision in preference to those who have reduced their commitment to the NHS.

Answer: Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that additional funds for primary care dentistry will be channelled towards dentists who have continued to maintain NHS care provision in preference to those who have reduced their commitment to the NHS. [189833] Ms Rosie Winterton: The base contract values under our proposed new contractual arrangements will be based on the dentists' previous national health service earnings, which will directly relate to the amount of NHS work they provided. Primary care trusts will monitor the NHS dental service provision by dentists to ensure that they maintain their NHS commitment. We also intend that some funding should be available to dentists in mixed practices who wish to increase their NHS commitment because they prefer the new contractual and remuneration system to the present arrangements.

Secondary information