Written question asked by Lord Lansley (Conservative) on Tuesday, 12 July 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 14 July 2005. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Monday, 12 September 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dentistry

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which organisations have been asked to submit a full business case for establishing a new dental school; when these business cases will be evaluated; by whom; and on what date she expects a new dental school to become operational.

Answer: A joint implementation group (JIG) made up of representatives of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Department and the national health service is managing the expansion of dental training. In May, the joint implementation group invited expressions of interest in taking additional training places from all higher education institutions and short-listed the responses in June. The successful applicants have been invited to submit a full business case by 28 September. The applications included proposals for new dental schools and the expansion of existing schools. It would not be appropriate to publish further information about the applications at this stage. The joint implementation group expects to reach its conclusions around the end of the year, when the location of the additional training places will be published.

Secondary information