Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much revenue was raised from patient charges for NHS dental services in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.

The table below shows the revenue raised from patient charges for National Health Service dental services in each of the last ten years.

Source: NHS Dental Statistics for England

Notes:

- Data on patient charge revenue are based on the amount calculated as recoverable from the contract payment based on the activity scheduled and patient charges recorded on the FP 17. It may not correspond exactly to the charge income reported in financial accounts for a number of reasons, including the fact that an estimate of charge income collected may have to be incorporated in the final phase of the financial year because accounts have to be prepared before the activity data for the full year becomes available.

- No account is taken in this report of refunds for patients who pay for their treatment and prove at a later date that they should not have paid charges, or penalties imposed on those who should have paid but did not.

- The patient charge total actually recovered into NHS funds during the year may also differ from the calculated amount, because of time-lags inherent in retrospectively deducting charges from monthly payments to dental contractors.

- 2006/07 data excludes revenue from Courses of Treatment (CoTs) which began before 1 April 2006 but were completed in 2006/07 due to the transition to the new contract system.

- The amount raised is dependent on the volume of banded COTs delivered and the charge for each banded COT levied.