Sir,- I write in reply to P Thornley, who wrote to the BDJ suggesting that with the loss of NCCPED as a separate entity, (BDJ 2003, 195: 174), the Clinical Audit and Peer Review payment system had been dismantled. I would like to assure your readers that this is not the case.

Lee Surry, who administers the payment system, has simply moved offices to the Department of Health in Waterloo House.

Practitioners should still complete their payment request on the appropriate form PAY2, and send it with the final report, to their Local Assessment Panel (LAP) who will process it in the normal way. It will then be forwarded to Lee who authorises the DPB to make the payment, normally within ten working days from receipt.

Payment is made on the first available schedule after the DPB receives authorisation. The LAPs sit regularly and payment to the practitioner should occur within ten weeks after LAP approval.

We are pleased to report that over 14,000 dentists have submitted applications and many of these have already completed their activity and received payment.

Although the office move did delay some payments during May and June, the system is now back to normal and practitioners can be assured that payments for Clinical Audit and Peer Review will continue to be paid promptly.

The Department of Health has demonstrated its commitment to the scheme by making available over £18m to support dentists complying with their terms of service over the last three years.