To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have registered with dentists under the new dental contract.

The number of people in England and Wales registered with dentists under continuing care and capitation arrangements has grown steadily since the new contract started on 1 October 1990 and is now almost 12 million.Cumulative totals are as follows:

End of month	Cumulative total
October 1990	2,091,855
November 1990	5,780,346
December 1990	8,154,903
January 1991	10,592,019

At 19 February 1991, which is the latest date for which figures are available, the number of people registered with dentists was 11,995,665.