Speeches by Hatton.

“Yes. I would like to move on to another segment of the recovery plan: the idea of dental vans, which were specifically to deal with rural, coastal areas that may not have the infrastructure in place to appoint dentists soon. These vans would help to plug that gap and drive up health outcomes in those areas. As far as I…”

“It would also be helpful to have some clarity that those posts are going to where the need is most acute. You have offered us reassurance today, but further clarity there would be appreciated. Finally, on the golden hello scheme, as has been touched on by Members here today, dentistry has been in crisis for many years.…”

“My constituent is a sergeant stationed at Bovington army camp in Dorset. My concern is that that is an area with the kinds of problems that this scheme is meant to address; there are vacancies for NHS dentists that go unfilled for a very, very long time, and it is a rural area, so when that becomes a problem you really…”

“Okay. As it stands, not a single dentist practice in my constituency is taking on new adult NHS patients. One of my constituents, a sergeant stationed in a camp, has said he is unable to get himself, his wife or his three children registered, despite serving in the armed forces. How can you assure my constituents that …”

“What will success look like, in terms of the number of appointments?”

“What is the long-term sustainability of the golden hello scheme? Taking into account that we have gone from one to 39, how much longer do we want this scheme to run, and what do we see as a success story? How many appointments would we like to see?”

“We are sort of dissecting the different parts of the recovery plan; I wanted to touch on the golden hello scheme. To start, could you let us know how many dentists as of today have been appointed with the golden hello scheme, and can you give us an idea of where they are working? Obviously, at the time the NAO Report w…”

“Thank you. I imagine that this will speak as much to Rachel’s constituents as to mine, but how do we make sure that those areas where there is little capacity are the places that get their fair share—which will inevitably be more, and therefore a priority—of the 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments?”

“I should start by saying that I welcome the fact that the new Government have made this pledge to try to have 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments available on the national health service. However, a constituent got in touch with me to say, “It’s shocking. The only way I can get any treatment on the NHS as it …”

“You can see where my constituent is coming from when they are faced with this bizarre situation. You are saying that in the future we will get to a point where we are starting to see some dentists take on new NHS patients, but those patients will need to know who those dentists are and to have a reliable place where th…”

“My last question is on the current contract with PwC, which is going to expire next month. What will you do to make sure that, whatever contracting decision you make, you do not repeat the mistakes you have made so far and that we do have good value for money for the taxpayer? Building on the points that Nesil has made…”

“Just to be clear, that is the point that I was trying to get at. If this system has not been fully operational for most of its lifetime and there has been flaws in it, when are other bodies such as the Arts Council, Sports England or indeed the Department actually picking up the slack of a system that is not actually w…”

“The Report does say there are flaws. The Report does quite clearly stress that there are things that borrowers could not do and could not get access to.”

“I would like to build on the line of questioning taken by my two colleagues—Ms Caliskan and Mr Betts. Would you view it as good practice that the date—the timing—for setting up the loan management system moved? I appreciate that the scope widened, but do you think it is a success story for the Department that it moved …”

“Given that it was delayed by more than a year, what lessons had been learned, considering that when it did go live, as Nesil has pointed out, there were a number of issues with the system?”

“Again, with the system, in reading the NAO Report my main concern was that, some time further on, it is still not really clear who is ultimately responsible for its day-to-day operations. Of course it is with PwC, but parts of this work are being replicated by Arts Council England or Sport England, with them keeping th…”

“So you are confident that the SROs are happy that PwC is in charge when it is working and that these other bodies, like the Arts Council and Sport England, are picking up the slack when the system fails? Is that what you are saying?”

“Looking ahead, are you confident that the loan management system will be able to cope as we see an increased number of borrowers start to make their first repayments?”

“Could you outline in more detail the reason for the 9% increase in the estimate for the next financial year? Is it because the NAO is more ambitious in what it is setting out to do, or is it just because of the general financial pressures facing all public bodies at the moment?”

“Do you feel that the 9% increase in the estimate will help you to do all the additional auditing that is required of you, but also to retain the staff who are needed to do that successfully?”