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24 May 2007 : Column 1502W—continued

	2003		2004		2005		2006
	Complete leavers	% of total dentists	Complete leavers	% of total dentists	Complete leavers	% of total dentists	Complete leavers	% of total dentists
England	1,233	7	1,270	7	1,163	6	1,088	5
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	81	9	54	6	55	6	58	6
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire	57	8	52	7	33	4	32	4
Birmingham and the Black Country	28	3	28	3	36	4	38	4
Cheshire and Merseyside	50	5	45	5	55	6	50	5
County Durham and Tees Valley	17	4	12	3	25	6	17	4
Cumbria and Lancashire	41	6	38	6	26	4	23	3
Dorset and Somerset	33	7	42	8	41	8	35	6
Essex	35	6	43	7	35	6	36	5
Greater Manchester	47	5	46	5	48	5	34	3
Hampshire and Isle of Wight	46	7	62	9	43	6	48	6
Kent and Medway	51	8	49	8	62	10	45	7
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	18	4	20	4	23	4	27	5
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	62	8	51	6	62	7	62	7
North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	19	3	39	7	31	5	35	5
North Central London	58	8	52	7	39	5	31	4
North East London	34	6	36	6	38	6	27	4
North West London	91	9	67	6	55	5	69	6
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	33	6	37	7	34	6	35	6
Shropshire and Staffordshire	19	4	36	7	22	4	16	3
South East London	37	6	51	8	50	7	30	4
South West London	62	9	68	10	43	6	34	5
South West Peninsula	59	9	61	9	53	7	47	6
South Yorkshire	24	5	29	6	23	5	29	6
Surrey and Sussex	91	7	95	7	102	7	82	6
Thames Valley	52	5	62	6	50	5	53	5
Trent	54	6	54	6	50	5	41	4
West Midlands South	29	5	26	4	30	4	28	4
West Yorkshire	42	5	49	6	32	4	42	5
Notes: 1. Complete leaver means the dentist had an open GDS or PDS contract in March of the previous year but no GDS or PDS contract in March of the specified year. 2. Percentages are calculated on the number of dentists with an open GDS or PDS contract as at 31 March in the specified year. 3. The dentist numbers include principals, assistants and trainees. Prison contracts are excluded. 4. A dentist may have a contract in more than one SHA area. Therefore, data at SHA area may include duplications of dentists leaving. England data exclude duplication. 5. The postcode of the dental practice was used to allocate dentists to specific geographic areas. SHA areas have been defined using the Office for National Statistics all fields postcode directory. 6. The numbers of leavers include all notifications, received by the dental practice board, up to 11 May 2006. 7. SHA boundaries as at 31 March 2006. Source s : The Information Centre for health and social care. NHS BSA.

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health in which strategic health authorities distance targets for access to NHS dentistry have been implemented by primary care trusts for (a) routine and (b) emergency treatment; and what distance target has been set by each. [138261]

Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not available centrally. Primary care trusts are responsible for commissioning services to reflect local needs and for deciding what indicators or standards to use to monitor access to services.

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