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Patients who are not exempt from dental charges are required to pay 80% of their treatment costs up to a maximum patient charge of £384. Any NHS dental charge above £384 is 100% funded by the NHS.

The 80:20 split is believed to be set at an appropriate level.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S4W-17091, S4W-17096 and S4W-17106 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.

The combined practice inspection process does not specifically look at how a dental practice has used the General Dental Practice Allowance (GDPA).

However it does inspect the decontamination facilities, practice information systems, health and safety requirements and staff training and continuing professional development records. The GDPA is considered to fund improvement in these specific areas of NHS dental practice.

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.

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

Salaried dental services have a significant role in remote and rural areas, and particularly in island communities. They also provide an effective solution in areas where there is a gap in NHS general dental services provided by independent dentists.

The Scottish Government currently has in train an annual process with NHS Boards to ensure that salaried dental services provide a cost effective solution for the needs of the local population.

On the basis of data from 2012-13, we estimate the number of practices that could be affected by the cap on General Dental Practice Allowance at 57 practices.

Source: Practitioner Services Division

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.

The General Dental Practice Allowance (GDPA) was not introduced as a measure to impact on access to NHS general dental services.

The purpose of the GDPA is as outlined in the answer to question S4W-17096 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.