Information relating to Chief Dental Officers and Deputy Chief Dental Officers: FOI

Information requested

You asked for the following information:

1. Salary of the Chief Dental Officer.
2. Salary of the Deputy Chief Dental Officers.
3. (a) Expenses claims for last 3 years for both the Chief Dental Officers and (b) Deputy Chief Dental Officers.
4. (a) A breakdown of expenses claims made the Chief Dental Officers and (b) Deputy Chief Dental Officers.
5. (a) A full list of any hotel stays claimed by Chief Dental Officer and (b) Deputy Chief Dental Officer.
6. List of interview questions asked and replied asked when the Chief Dental Officer was appointed.
7. List of interview questions and replied asked when the Deputy Chief Dental Officers were appointed.
8. Any conflict of interests relating to the Deputy Chief Dental Officers.
9. No of NHS patients registered with the Deputy Chief Dental Officer Gillian Leslie at bridge street dental eh33.
10. Reference Dental Officer reports ( RDO ) in relation to any patients treated by the deputy chief dental officer Gillian Leslie at bridge street dental.
11. (a) No of first class rail travel claims made by the Chief Dental Officer and (b) Deputy Chief Dental Officer

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested in questions 3b, 4b, 5b, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11b, because an exemption under section 17(1) of FOISA applies; the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested.

The Scottish Government holds information in relation to the following questions.

1. Salary costs for the Chief Dental Officer.
Answer: As this information is private and confidential in nature we are not able to provide an exact amount but can confirm that the pay band for this post is equivalent to the pay band for Director on the Senior Civil Service pay range.

2. Salary cost for Deputy Chief Dental Officers.
Answer: As this information is private and confidential in nature we are not able to provide an exact amount but can confirm that the pay band for this post is equivalent to the pay band for Deputy Director on the Senior Civil Service pay range.

3a. Expenses claims for last 3 years for the Chief Dental Officer.
Answer: Over the period December 2020 to December 2023, the Chief Dental Officer, Tom Ferris, has not made any claims for reimbursement of out of pocket expenses incurred while travelling. In line with Scottish Government’s standard procedure for business travel, accommodation and travel arrangements have been processed during the period using the Scottish Government travel management system, incurring a cost totalling £1,661.88.

4a. A breakdown of expenses claims made by the Chief Dental Officer.
Answer: A breakdown of costs incurred by the Chief Dental Officer for the period 15 December 2020 to 15 December 2023, per financial year, is set out below.

Period	Hotel	Rail	Air	Total
15 December 2020 to 31 March 2021	£0	£0	£0	£0
1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022	£0	£0	£0	£0
1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023	£286.00	£81.70	£354.28	£721.98
1 April 2023 to 15 December 2023	£215.66	£12.30	£711.94	£939.90

5a. A full list of any hotel stays claimed by Chief Dental Officer.
Answer: A full list of hotel stays for the Chief Dental Officer for the period December 2020 to December 2023 is set out below. These costs were processed via the travel management system and not directly claimed by the Chief Dental Officer.

Date	Hotel name and location	Cost
13/10/22	Apex, Edinburgh	£107.00
21/11/22	Ambassadors Hotel, London	£179.00
13/11/2023	Holiday Inn, London	£215.66

8. Any conflict of interests relating to the Deputy Chief Dental Officers.
Answer: We are not aware of any conflict of interest relating to the Deputy Chief Dental Officers. The Deputy Chief Dental Officers are practising dentists and as such, have their own professional interests. However, this does not create a conflict of interests in relation to their roles within the Scottish Government.

11a. Number of first class rail travel claims made by the Chief Dental Officer.
Answer: After checking our travel management system, we are able to confirm that there have been no first class rail travel claims made by the Chief Dental Officer, and no costs for first class rail travel incurred by the Chief Dental Officer listed on the travel management system.

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