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All seven secure units in Scotland are available for children aged 16 and under on remand:

Kibble, Paisley

St Philip's, Airdrie

Good Shepherd, Bishopton, Renfrewshire

Rossie, Montrose, Angus

St Mary's, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow

Edinburgh

The Elms, Dundee.

It is estimated that approximately £5,000 will be spent on the following public information leaflets: HCS1 Help with Health Costs (web only) and HCS2 A Quick Guide to Help with Health Costs (booklet). Both include information on eligibility to the costs of dental treatment.

There are no current plans to introduce new initiatives in 2008-09 to increase access to NHS dental services specifically in Orkney.

NHS Orkney are planning to increase their dental premises but this will take some time to put in place as this is being taken forward as part of the board's property strategy.

The board is also considering whether dental surgeries should be included as part of the refurbishment of the Balfour hospital at the first phase of this project. This proposal is currently with the Scottish Government Health Directorates for approval.

In the financial year 2006-07, net expenditure on NHS dental care per head in Orkney was £104^1,2 and in Scotland was £73^1,2.

Notes:

1. Expenditure on NHS hospital, community and family health dental services.

2. Includes specialties dental and oral surgery and medicine, and Allied Health Professionals (AHP) out-patient service provided by dental ancillary staff.

At 30 September 2007, there were 6.6 NHS dentists¹ per 10,000 population in Orkney and 5.7 NHS dentists^1. per 10,000 population in Scotland as a whole.

Note: 1. Head count of dentists working in the sectors of NHS general, community and hospital dental services (not the whole-time equivalent number, as information on the working hours of each dentist is not collected). A dentist may work in more than one sector of NHS dentistry.

Information on the percentage of people who visit a private dentist is not available centrally.

The specific information requested is not collected centrally. However, figures on the number and percentage of people aged 18 and over in Orkney and in Scotland who are registered with dentists under NHS general dental services arrangements are available and are published at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4680.html.

A number of grants and allowances have been introduced over the years to recruit and retain dentists within general dental services in Scotland, including Orkney. These are:

commitment payments

grants for new and existing vocational training practices

remote areas allowance

recruitment and retention allowance

practice allowances

reimbursement of practice expenses

deprived areas allowance.

In addition, the Scottish Dental Access Initiative, which was first introduced in 1997, provides grants for those dentists wishing to establish new or expand existing NHS dental practices. This scheme was revised in 2007 to provide for the purchase or relocation of current NHS dental practices and to include specialist orthodontic practices. The financial assistance available under this scheme has also been revised.

NHS boards are also able to appoint directly salaried dentists to fill gaps in provision.

All of the initiatives in place to recruit and retain dentists to general dental services in Scotland, including Orkney, will remain in place in 2008-09.

I meet regularly with all NHS chairs to discuss matters of importance to health and the NHS in Scotland, most recently on 28 January. Health officials are also in regular contact with NHS Highland about a range of matters. The Minister for Public Health also met with the senior team of NHS Highland on 21 August last year when she chaired the board''s annual review. The board''s performance on key national health targets including health improvement, efficiency, waiting times and cancer care were discussed.