Patients who lose access to NHS dental services should contact their local NHS board or Primary Care NHS Trust for advice on where to find their nearest NHS dental services, including what NHS emergency dental services may be available in their area.The majority of General Dental Practitioners are independent contractors. They are free to choose whether to join or remain on the dental list of an NHS board or Primary Care NHS Trust and whether to provide NHS treatment to individual patients.

Under the terms of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, the Auditor General is responsible for the external audit of the Care Commission. In addition to conducting the audit of the commission’s accounts,the Auditor General may initiate an examination into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the Care Commission has used its resources in discharging its functions. In determining whether such an examination should becarried out, the Auditor General must take into account any proposals made by Parliament.

When any NHS board or Primary Care NHS Trust considers that the existing general dental service provision is insufficient to meet the demands of the local population and no independent General Dental Practitioner is available to fill the gap, approval can be sought from Scottish ministers to appoint a salaried dentist.

The convener is appointed under Schedule 1 Section 6 of the Regulation of Care(Scotland) Act 2001 and is personally responsible to Scottish ministers for ensuring that the Care Commission’s policies are compatible with those of the Scottish ministers and for ensuring probity in the conduct of the Care Commission’s affairs. The Care Commission is responsible for the operation of its Scheme of Delegation.

The number of substantive applications for salaried dentist posts are shown brokendown by area in the following table:

NHS Board	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	Total
Argyll and Clyde	1	2	1		2	6
Ayrshire and Arran			3			3
Borders			2	2	3	7
Dumfries and Galloway				4		4
Fife					2	2
Forth Valley					9	9
Grampian	2	1	5	2		10
Highland	1	3	1	5	1	11
Lanarkshire			1		1	2
Lothian				3	2	5
Orkney		1		3		4
Shetland		1	1			2
Total	4	8	14	19	20	65

No substantiated applications for salaried posts have been rejected. Information about incomplete or provisional applications for such posts or inquiries about possible such postshas not been retained. There are current discussions with Highland and Greater Glasgow Primary Care NHS Trusts aboutthe possibility of further such posts in their areas.

I have arranged for the information, in table form, to be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 28234). No structural funding was allocated under the current Objective 2 Programme in 1999-2000 as the programme was not agreed until March 2001. The table will show European funding allocated in 2000-01. Thereafter it is shown on a yearly basis.

I have arranged for the information, in table form, to be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 28235). No structural funding was allocated under the current Objective 2 Programme in 1999-2000 as the programme was not agreed until March 2001. The table will show European allocated in 2000-01 and thereafter it is shown on a yearly basis. The economic development budget of each body is not readily available.

I understand that the Department of Public Health at NHS Borders has already undertaken a health risk assessment in consultation with Scottish Borders Housing Association.NHS Borders has also been involved in public meetings on this issue and discussions with the local authority and other relevant agencies have taken place.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 provides Scottish ministers with various powers in relation to housing associations and these powers have been delegated to Communities Scotland. However, Communities Scotland has no landlord function and no specific power to offer housing accommodation. The responsibility for finding suitable decant accommodation for tenants lies with the housing association. If approached by a housing association where there is insufficient accommodation to house decanted housing association tenants, Communities Scotland would support and assist the housing association by liasing with strategic partners and other housing providers in the area concerned to establish if additional accommodation could be made available by another social landlord.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 provides Scottish ministers with powers to intervene to address poor performance by housing associations. These powers have been delegated to Communities Scotland. Where a housing association's performance is poor and it is failing to meet its obligations to tenants, Communities Scotland, on behalf of Scottish ministers, may:Remove members of the governing body of the housing association where their failure to act impedes the proper management of the organisation;Appoint persons to the governing body of the housing association for the purpose of improving the management of the organisation;Appoint a manager to the housing association, to ensure that the management of its affairs is of an appropriate standard, andInstruct a statutory inquiry into the affairs of the housing association, and (if required) a related Extraordinary Audit of its finances. If ministers conclude that there has been mismanagement or misconduct by the housing association, they have a further range of powers including directing the housing association to transfer its land to another registered landlord, following consultation with tenants.