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We anticipate that the impact on employment will be negligible.

Those practices affected by the cap will also benefit from the increase in item-of-service fees.

The purpose of the General Dental Practice Allowance, as set down in the Statement of Dental Remuneration, is to ensure the practice has access to high quality premises, that the practice is compliant with health and safety standards, and that staff are able to access the requisite training and continuous professional development. It is not the specific purpose of this allowance to support a staffing complement within a practice.

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.

The Continuing Professional Development Allowance and Clinical Audit Allowance allow NHS dentists to take time away from clinical practice to undertake these tasks and is an effective use of these allowances.

Maintaining up to date knowledge and skills in dentists and encouraging reflective practice in order to improve patient care are key to delivering a high quality NHS dental service.

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.

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.

The Scottish Government remains committed to matching the number of dental vocational training (DVT) places in Scotland to the expected graduate output of Scottish dental schools. Our commitment to provide 172 dental vocational places in 2013 was met.

It is NHS Education for Scotland (NES) which co-ordinates the recruitment of dental practices that offer DVT places to dental graduates and, with anticipated dental school graduate output in 2014 anticipated to be 193, Scottish Government officials have commenced discussions with NES to ensure appropriate steps are taken to meet this anticipated need.

The Scottish Dental Practice Board (SDPB) regularly receives reports from Practitioner Services Division (PSD) on performance related to prior approval.

SDPB have recently undertaken a review of the current prior approval process with a view to improving effectiveness.

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

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.

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.