To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists in (a) Stroud constituency and (b) Gloucestershire offer NHS treatment to (i) children and (ii) adults; how many patients are covered; and what percentage this is of the relevant population in each case. (247937)

Information is not available in the format requested.

The numbers of dentists with national health service activity during the years ending 31 March, 2007 and 2008 are available in Table G1 of Annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2007-08” report. Information is provided by strategic health authority (SHA) and by primary care trust (PCT). This information is based on the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006.

Following a recent consultation exercise, this measure is based on a revised methodology and therefore supersedes previously published workforce figures relating to the new dental contractual arrangements. It is not comparable to the information collected under the old contractual arrangements. This revised methodology counted the number of dental performers with NHS activity recorded via FP17 claim forms in each year ending 31 March. This report, published on 21 August 2008, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:

www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dental0708

These figures relate to headcounts and do not differentiate between full-time and part-time dentists, nor do they account for the fact that some dentists may do more NHS work than others, or between treatments for adults and children.

Under the new dental contractual arrangements, patients do not have to be registered with an NHS dentist to receive NHS care. The closest equivalent measure to ‘registration’ is the number of patients receiving NHS dental services (‘patients seen’) over a 24-month period. However, this is not directly comparable to the registration data for earlier years.

The number of patients seen in the previous 24 months in England, as at quarterly intervals, from 31 March 2006 to 30 June 2008 is available in Table Dl of Annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics, Q1 2008-09” report. Table D2 contains information on the numbers of patients seen as a percentage of the population. Information is provided by PCT and SHA and is available by adult and child patients seen.

This report, published on 27 November 2008, has been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:

www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalstats0809q1.