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Dentistry

Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the reasons are for the change in the timing of the publication of the new NHS dental patients charges regime. [206687]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 21 December 2004]: We need to give careful consideration to all aspects of the system reform which we are undertaking. As indicated in the written statement made to the House by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health on 10 January 2005, Official Report, columns 6–8WS, we will move to full implementation by April 2006. As part of these plans, we will publish new regulations for dental charging for consultation in the summer of 2005.

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there were in (a) West Derbyshire constituency and (b) Derbyshire in each of the last seven years. [207446]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The earliest available information (1998) is shown in the table. For the West Derbyshire constituency area, there are three primary care trusts (PCTs)—Amber Valley PCT, Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire PCT and High Peaks and Dales PCT. Subtotals for these PCTs are also recorded.
Number of general and personal dental service dentists in the Derbyshire area by PCT at September each year, 1998 to 2004

PCT	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
1. Amber Valley	38	37	40	40	44	40	47
2. Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire	29	33	34	37	39	42	44
3. High Peak and Dales	36	41	41	44	48	52	54
Central Derby	37	45	42	44	42	43	46
Greater Derby	49	48	53	58	63	60	68
North Eastern Derbyshire	35	34	37	49	50	51	53
Subtotal of three PCTs	103	111	115	121	131	134	145
Total of above PCTs	224	238	247	272	286	288	312

Source:
Dental Practice Board.

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists have applied to become NHS dentists in (a) West Derbyshire constituency and (b) Derbyshire in each of the last seven years. [207447]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information shown in the table shows dentists starting work in the Derbyshire, area for the first time in the general (GDS) or personal dental service (PDS).

The number of GDS and PDS dentists starting work is shown by primary care trust (PCT) at September each year for the years 1998 to 2004. This is the earliest available data.

For West Derbyshire constituency area, there are three PCTs: Amber Valley PCT, Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire PCT, and High Peaks and Dales PCT. Subtotals for these PCTs are recorded in the table.
 
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Number of general and personal dental service dentists who joined PCTs in the Derbyshire area in the 12 months to September each year, 1998 to 2004

PCT	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
1. Amber Valley	6	6	8	7	9	6	8
2. Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire	1	5	3	6	5	5	7
3. High Peak and Dales	4	6	7	6	8	8	9
Central Derby	7	12	6	6	7	7	6
Greater Derby	6	3	12	9	9	5	10
North Eastern Derbyshire	7	2	4	15	9	6	6
Subtotal of three PCTs	11	17	18	19	22	19	24
Total of above PCTs	31	34	40	49	47	37	46

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what forecast his Department has made of the number of dental practices transferring to a Personal Dental Services contract by December 2005; and if he will make a statement. [206720]

Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the oral answer of 7 December 2004, Official Report, column 1029, from the Minister of State for Health, the hon. Member for Doncaster, Central (Ms Winterton), (1) whether the 2,500 dentists and 1,000 personal dental services (PDS) sites include (a) the original PDS pilot sites, (b) PDS applications and (c) community dental services; [206887]

(2) how many personal dental services contract applications are (a) pending and (b) were completed in each of the last 12 months. [206688]

Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 2 December 2004]: As at 16 December 2004, the Department was processing 502 expressions of interest in making a proposal for a personal dental service (PDS) scheme and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health had approved a further 109 PDS proposals that are not yet in operation.

During 2004, 802 PDS schemes became operational. Information is not held centrally on in which month in 2004 the schemes went live.

There are now some 3,500 dentists in 1,300 sites working under PDS arrangements. These figures include the original remuneration field sites managed by the NHS Modernisation Agency under the Options for Change programme, but exclude PDS applications and community dental services. We expect interest in PDS to continue to grow until, with implementation of the new contractual arrangements for national health service dentistry, the benefits of PDS are available to all NHS dentists.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of travel within the UK for the Department was in each year since 1997; and how much of this was spent on (a) hire cars, (b) helicopter hire, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence. [206471]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department's total spend on travel within the United Kingdom since 1997 is shown in table 1.
 
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Table 1 £

	Amount(3)
1997–98	6,230,714
1998–99	5,421,862
1999–2000	6,726,111
2000–01	6,948,398
2001–02	7,546,829
2002–03	7,189,396
2003–04	7,720,637

⁽³⁾ The cost of hire cars is included in these amounts, but is not available separately. There has been no expenditure on helicopters.

The Department's spend on day and night subsistence within the UK is shown in table 2.
Table 2 £

	Amount(4)
1997–98	870,832
1998–99	852,272
1999–2000	1,083,664
2000–01	1,369,780
2001–02	1,392,948
2002–03	1,421,354
2003–04	2,019,014

⁽⁴⁾ Expenditure on subsistence includes hotel accommodation, but this is not separately available.

All travel complied with the requirements of the "Ministerial Code, Travel by Ministers" and the "Civil Service Management Code".

DXA Bone Density Scanning

Joyce Quin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list primary care trusts in England which do not have DXA bone density scanning facilities, broken down by region. [207571]

Mr. Hutton: There are over 120 hospitals in England that have at least one bone density scanner but the Department does not maintain a central record of which primary care trusts (PCTs) have dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry bone scanning facilities. PCTs will arrange for use of these scanners or alternatively buy in the service from mobile service providers as and when required.

Electronic Devices

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many electronic devices are owned by the Department, broken down by type. [207687]

 
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Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has a total of 11,719 electronic items on its asset register. This is broken down into:

	Number
Servers	502
Personal computers	5,888
Laptops	2,700
Printers	2,629

Food Colourings

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to protect children against hyperactive behaviour which may be caused by colourings (a) tartrazine (E102), (b) sunset yellow (E110), (c) camoisine (E122), (d) pancean 4R (E124) and (e) sodium benzoale (E211); and if he will make a statement. [206892]

Miss Melanie Johnson: These substances were the subject of a Government-funded study to investigate the possible link with hyperactive behaviour. The committee on toxicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment assessed the outcome of this work and concluded that it was difficult to draw firm conclusions regarding the significance of the results, but that this was still an area of significant scientific uncertainty that warranted further investigation. A new study with improved experimental design is under way and is due to finish in March 2007.

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