Lord Colwyn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Colwyn on 2014-05-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment NHS England has made of the effectiveness of Local Area Teams in commissioning NHS dental services since April 2013.

Earl Howe

We are informed by NHS England that the Direct Commissioning Assurance Framework, which was published in November 2013, sets out the methodology for how NHS England can demonstrate effective use of public funds in commissioning safe, high quality and sustainable services within available resources

The assurance process is evidence-based and draws on a wide range of information and indicators to assess how well services are being commissioned. The evidence used includes local insight from area teams and wider National Health Service functions. A finance and performance delivery dashboard is also used and dental data is an important component of this. Through this process, NHS England is able to ensure that the delivery of NHS dental services is monitored as an important component of the assurance process and that any concerns are addressed promptly.