To ask Her Majesty's Government whether a primary care trust which has joined the campaign of the National Alliance for Equity in Dental Health to extend water fluoridation will have a conflict of interest if it promotes a local fluoridation scheme under the Water Act 2003. [HL1281]

No, we do not see any conflict. As the chief dental officer's letter of February 2008 indicates, primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for assessing the oral health needs of their populations and, where they judge the fluoridation of water to be the best option for meeting these needs, they may request their strategic health authorities to conduct consultations. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library. In this context, we would expect the PCTs to promote fluoridation during consultations with, where they judge it appropriate, the support of organisations knowledgeable about the arrangement of fluoridation schemes and their effects.