asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many days are lost each year due to dental disease; and what is the cost to the nation.

The only information available relates to days of incapacity for work recorded in connection with national insurance claims. There were 0·6 million such days attributed to diseases of the oral cavity in the statistical year 1974–75. The only cost figure that could be supplied is one based on benefit costs for an average benefit rate and an average beneficiary, the averages being derived from incapacity experience as a whole, but such a figure would not be a meaningful one.