I am writing to confirm that I have now completed my search for the information which you requested.
Request
I would like to request data under the Freedom of Information Act for the purposes of academic research.
Could you please provide for each financial year from 01-04-2016 to 31-03-2024 for all dental providers in England and Wales, the total number of claims, and the total UDAs delivered by each dentist on each General Dental Services contract.
This should include a column to identify the financial year, a column with a persistent identifier for the dentist (for example name and/or GDC number, or an anonymised UID that is consistent across time), a column with the number of years since the dentist was added to the NHS Performers list, a column indicating whether the dentist is a performer only or a provider performer, a column with the contract number the claims and UDAs are associated with, a column with the postcode of the contract number, a column with the ODS code associated with the contract number (if known), a column with the number of claims in the year for that dentist on that contract number and a column with the number of UDAs delivered in the year by that dentist on that contract number.
Therefore if there is a dentist that delivers care on two dental contracts in a year, there should be two rows for that dentist in that year.
Please can you provide this in a csv file or xlsx file (or in multiple files if they are too large). I am aware that the data is available at practice level on the NHS Open Data Portal, but I am interested at the dentist level. Thank you for your assistance.
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 29 August 2025.
We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
Our response
2016/17 and 2017/18 Data
I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHSBSA. This is because reports from Compass are retained for 6 years, as per the NHSBSA’s retention schedule.
A link to this has been provided below, Reports from Compass data can be found on row 265 of the “retention” tab:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2025-04/NHSBSARM012%20Retention%20Schedule%20-%20myhub%20version%20April%202025.xlsx
2018/19 to 2023/24 Data
I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached.
This report contains the details from General FP17s processed in English & Welsh contracts for Reporting Years 2018/2019 to 2023/2024 and includes activity by Foundation Dentists. The information within the report includes the data items and descriptions listed in the attached data dictionary.
Reporting Year:
The financial year which the activity relate to. Year-end methodology will include all activity data (including amendments) collected from FP17s scheduled in any of the fifteen schedule months from April to June, where the date of completion is on or between 1 April and 31 March of the year. For example 2019-20 will include all activity data (including amendments) collected from FP17s scheduled in any of the fifteen schedule months from April 2019 to June 2020, where the date of completion is on or between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020. Where FP17s do not have a date of completion, e.g. where the patient has failed to return to complete the treatment, the date of acceptance is used.
Contract Number:
This is a unique 10-character number which identifies a contract.
Principal Practice Address Postcode:
This is postcode of the main address used for correspondence between the NHSBSA and the dental contract, it is not necessarily the address where treatment takes place.
Country Name:
The country name where the contract is located.
V Code:
V Code (ODS) based on Principle Practice and Correspondence (PPC) Location with the highest activity.
Performer Number:
This is a unique 6-character number which identifies a performer.
Performer Start Date:
The start date of the performer's (dentist) tenure on the contract
Performer Start End:
The end date of the performer's (dentist) tenure on the contract
Number of Years as a Performer:
This if the number of years based on either current date minus the performers start date (Dentist Tenure) or End Date.
UDA Delivered:
The units of dental activity scheduled for the time period selected relating to the financial year, where they were carried out by any performer.
Total FP17s:
This is a count of the number of FP17s scheduled including adjustments for amended and deleted FP17s. Withdrawn FP17s are not included in the total count of FP17s. This figure may be zero or negative if deleted FP17s have been processed.
FD Tenure:
This indicates if the Performer is a Foundation Dentist.
Provider Performer:
This indicates if the Performer is a Provider Performer. Due to our not having a specific indicator this has been based on the Performer number matching the Provider number.
Data Queries
Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.
Reusing the data and copyright
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: “NHSBSA Copyright 2025” 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.
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