To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions patients who met current acceptance criteria for restorative dentistry at Birmingham Dental Hospital have not been given a referral on the ground that there was not the capacity within the NHS waiting list target times for the patient to be seen. (131049)

[holding answer 16 April 2007]: The information requested is not centrally collected. However, the Department has made it clear that clinical priority must be the main determinant of when patients are treated.