Chamber and committees

Ensuring all aspects of information governance are addressed is an important element of the drug and alcohol information system (DAISy) project and there is a dedicated subgroup in place to deal with these matters. The subgroup will advise on whether DAISy is compliant with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Figures for clinical services costs and non-clinical services costs are detailed in NHSScotland board annual accounts. Total expenditure by all special boards for clinical services costs and non-clinical services costs, with the exception of the National Waiting Times Centre and the State Hospitals Board for Scotland, taken from the boards’ annual accounts for 2013-14 are as follows:

Providing the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Information on the number of people aged between 16 and 65 who are not eligible for MAS is not held centrally.

The equipment was limited to those practices with NHS activity and both defibrillators and washer/disinfectors were procured centrally for the Scottish Government through NHS National Services Scotland. These procurement exercises were able to secure sufficient numbers of defibrillators and washer/disinfectors to ensure that those practices without these items, and with some degree of NHS involvement, were able to benefit.

The Public Dental Service (PDS) was established on 1 January 2014. 2014-15 is the first full financial year since the establishment of this service and it is too early to know whether any NHS board will have an underspend. Any planned variations by NHS boards in their PDS will be reflected in future board allocations.

To date £3.24 mililon has been recovered with approximately £100k outstanding.

The responsibility for identifying, notifying dentists and recovering any overpayments rests with Practitioner Services Division (PSD), as a division of NHS National Services Scotland responsible for making payments to dentists.

The cost for the process is a matter for PSD. However, we understand that the majority of the activity linked to the recovery process was provided by existing staff and that costs additional to baseline for the recovery exercise were approximately £25,000.

The Public Dental Service (PDS) was established on 1 January 2014. 2014-15 is the first full financial year since the establishment of this service. The PDS is funded from two sources, the NHS Board’s own baseline allocation and a separate allocation from the Scottish Government. The total budget is agreed after an annual service planning process with the Scottish Government.

For the financial year 2014-15 the total funding allocated for the PDS in each NHS board area is shown in the following table:

Public Dental Service 2014-15 - Anticipated Budget

The Scottish Government is committed to encouraging prompt payment of commercial debt. The Scottish Government implemented directive 2011/7/EU on combating late payment in commercial transactions through the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Scotland) Regulations 2013 which strengthened and revised the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. This legislation requires public authorities to pay commercial debts within 30 days. The Scottish Procurement Policy Handbook also separately confirms that public bodies are bound by that late payment legislation. The policy handbook applies to all Scottish contracting authorities governed by public law. Compliance with it is expected to feature prominently in any audit scrutiny. A standard ‘prompt payment’ clause was also introduced for all Scottish Government contracts in 2009, which specifies that valid invoices must be paid within 30 days of receipt at all stages of the supply chain relating to the contract.

The number of practices affected by the cap on the General Dental Practice Allowance at £80,000, broken down as requested is:

(a) over 75% - 1

(b) over 80% - 4

(c) over 85% - 9

(d) over 90% - 14

(e) over 95% - 25