To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 1 May 2007, Official Report, column 1596W, on dental services: funding, how much Dental Service Increment for Teaching funding was made available to each strategic health authority (SHA) for 2007-08; whether SHAs' expenditure of their Dental Service Increment for Teaching funding in 2007-08 is ring-fenced for the stated purposes of the funding; what steps she is taking to ensure that in 2007-08 the Dental Service Increment for Teaching budget is used by SHAs for its planned purpose; and if she will make a statement. (138772)

The Dental Service Increment for Teaching (SIFT) funding for each strategic health authority in 2007-08 is shown in the following table.

The Service Increment for Teaching funding was issued as an element of the Multi Professional Education and Training budget, which was allocated to SHA as part of the bundle of central budgets.

The education and training budget was not ring-fenced in order to allow SHA freedom to spend resources according to their own priorities.

However, in 2007-08 a service level agreement and accountability framework has been issued to ensure that SHA are held to account for the training they support for undergraduate dental students. This agreement requires SHA to fund dental placements based on the nationally agreed placement rate, which should ensure that undergraduate dental students receive the necessary support in the future.