To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement setting out the timetable he will now be following to introduce the pilot schemes under primary care legislation. [6748]

We propose to establish a range of pilots concerned with improving the direct provision of personal medical services from 1 April 1998. In order to give everyone equal opportunity to consider how local initiatives can be best taken forward, we have extended the closing date by which formal applications have to be with health authorities by one month. We also propose to establish a number of personal dental services pilots in October 1998 to test new ways of delivering primary care dentistry and addressing local oral health priorities.The revised timetable for the implementation of the personal medical services pilots is given in the table.