asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the cost of providing a free comprehensive dental service available throughout the country as part of the National Health Service designed and introduced; and if he has any plans for modernising the style of spectacle frames available.

The table below lists the frames currently available through the general ophthalmic services and shows the date of their introductions.

It is estimated that, in terms of the income that would be forgone from patients' charges, the cost in 1980–81 of providing a free general dental service in Great Britain would be of the order of £89 million at November 1979 prices.