asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many dentures constructed of chrome cobalt were supplied by dental surgeons under the National Health Service in the two years preceding and the two years following the removal of such dentures from the list of items requiring prior approval from the Dental Estimates Board before the work in question could proceed.

The prior approval requirements for metal-based dentures were altered on 1 October 1980 and brought into line with the requirements for acrylic-based dentures. The number of metal based dentures supplied in England and Wales in the two preceding and two following years is as follows: