Thank you for your request for information about the following: 

I’m requesting for information under FOI. I’m doing some research and trying to work out the expenses and the profits of a dental practice.

I’d like to ask, how does and how much does the NHS pay dental practices providing NHS services?

We asked for clarification on the following: Does the question of ‘how’ dental practices are paid relate to the financial mechanism to pay (i.e. BACS), or does the question relate to the frequency of payments, or the end to end process?

You responded with: The question relates to the frequency and amount of payments made to an NHS dental practice.

Your request was received on 12th June and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 

Response

Years 2020-2022

Under Section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. The information you requested is available from web link:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-25528

Year 2022-2023

NHSBSA does hold this information but considers this to be exempt under section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, as it is intended for future publication. The information is intended for publication by NHSBSA in September 2023 and will be available via the following link - https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/dental-data/nhs-payments-dentists

The Information Commissioner's Office guidance states that "for the exemption of section 22 to apply, the public authority must, at the time of the request hold the information and intend that it or 'any other person' will publish it in the future."

Public Interest Test

Considerations in favour of disclosure:

• The need for public authorities to be transparent in their dealings

Considerations against disclosure:

• The information is intended for future publication once finalised.

• The information is currently in draft and subject to change.

• There is an inherent public interest in not disclosing information which could be misleading to the public and may not accurately reflect the final information.

Having undertaken the balancing exercise, NHSBSA have concluded that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information

Please note that this request and our response is published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at: 

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01230

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing, the data please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhs.net ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented. 

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented. 

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/  

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: 

“Dental Services, NHSBSA Copyright 2023” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence: 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/  

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence. 

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated.   

Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.