– in the Scottish Parliament at on 26 October 2023.
Humza Yousaf
Scottish National Party
Tuesday.
Alex Cole-Hamilton
Liberal Democrat
Vast numbers of people are being forced to call emergency dental helplines because they cannot find a national health service dentist. An investigation that I am publishing today shows that that happened almost 16,000 times last year in Fife alone. That is hardly surprising, given that there is just one Fife practice accepting new NHS patients.
Across Scotland, people are desperate—some are even resorting to do-it-yourself dentistry. The First Minister’s recovery plan promised to abolish NHS dentistry charges altogether, but they are not going away. Next week, they will go up; some will even double. What the Government did not tell us is that there are new charges for emergency appointments and for services such as denture repairs. Why are people paying more for less under the Scottish National Party?
The First Minister:
T he word that Alex Cole-Hamilton did not mention in his question was “pandemic”. The pandemic had a significant impact on our dental services—not just here in Scotland, but right across the United Kingdom. Alex Cole-Hamilton was also incorrect to say that we have not made progress in removing dental charges. We have done so for young people under the age of 26, and we look forward to making continued progress.
On growing the NHS dental workforce in Scotland, we have 55 dentists per 100,000 of the population compared with 43 per 100,000 in England. We are investing in our NHS dental services, and the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care will be more than happy to write to Alex Cole-Hamilton with details of the progress that we have made.
Crucially, when it comes to the oral health of our young people in particular, which I know is of interest to us all, there has been significant progress there, as well. It will take time, but I can absolutely guarantee not just the public but the people who work in our dental sector across Scotland that we will continue to invest in dentistry so that we can continue to improve outcomes for patients across the country.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
