Chamber and committees

The Scottish Dental Practice Board are considering alternatives to the existing paper-based system of prior approval and have commissioned Practitioner Services Division to investigate establishing an electronic system of prior approval.

We are unaware of any representations being made with regard to the £384 maximum patient charge for NHS dentistry.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to reduce the General Dental Practice Allowance for non-committed dental practices.

The cap on the General Dental Practice Allowance (GDPA) is one element of a wider settlement for independent dentists providing NHS dental services.

Dental practices that are affected by the cap will also benefit from a 2.51 per cent increase on item-of-service fees. This award is worth around £4.9 million (in terms of net fees), substantially more than the value of the GDPA cap.

Associates are not employed by the practice owner. Both practice owner and associate are independent contractors. Associates receive a percentage of gross fees that will vary between dental practices.

On the basis of data from 2012-13, we estimate that approximately 600,000 people are registered with 46 general practices affected by the cap on GDPA. The remaining eleven specialist practices that are affected by the cap do not register patients.

Source: Practitioner Services Division.

Associates are not employed by the practice owner. Both practice owner and associate are independent contractors. Associates receive a percentage of gross fees that will vary between dental practices. These arrangements are particular to the practice owner and associate, and are affected by many factors.

The Scottish Government had a number of discussions at different levels.

As well as number of meetings between officials (including the Chief Dental Officer) and the Scottish Dental Practice Committee and British Dental Association Scotland, the Minister for Public Health met with representatives of independent dentists providing NHS general dental services on 19 June 2013.

We do not anticipate any significant adverse impact on workload.

The cap is one element in a funding package that will mean an increase of 2.51 per cent in item-of-service fees (by far the largest element of funding to dental practices) for independent dentists providing NHS dental services. All practices will benefit from this increase, including those practices that would be affected by the GDPA cap.

The settlement for 2013-14 has increased the amount of resource for independent dentists providing NHS general dental services.

Dentists are not exempt from VAT and so their costs will reflect the increase in VAT.

We are currently working with the British Dental Association Scotland and the Scottish Dental Practitioner Committee on providing robust information on the earnings and expenses of independent dentists providing NHS services in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-17093 on 26 September 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.