To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time for a dental appointment to (a) receive an examination and (b) continue treatment was in (i) Wakefield district (ii) Yorkshire and the Humber and (iii) England in the latest period for which figures are available. (223765)

The information requested is not collected centrally. It is for primary care trusts (PCTs) to determine how best to manage patients seeking national health service dental services, and for dental providers to manage the delivery of a complete course of treatment.

However, increasing the number of patients seen within NHS dental services is now a formal priority in the NHS Operating Framework for 2008-09 and we have supported this with a very substantial 11 per cent. uplift in overall allocations to PCTs from 1 April 2008.