Sir, I have been in correspondence with my local MP regarding HTM 01-05 since last year. It has been difficult to make any headway in constructive argument, as there appears to be a policy approach from which the Department of Health will not waver, but I have managed to extract some interesting points.

A letter I received in April 2010 from the Department of Health comments: 'A balance therefore has to be struck between protecting against these risks, the cost of protective measures, and the practical constraints that the design and structure of many dental practices put on the accommodation of new equipment and the adoption of new practices – the so-called precautionary principle.' One wonders where the precautionary principle could start or end?

On pressing further a letter signed from Earl Howe on 25 June 2010 states, 'that best practice may be impossible to implement without relocating some practices.'

After pressing for more information of any audit into the costs and practical implications of so-called 'best practice', I was handed over to 'Customer Services' at the Department of Health. Customer services stated in their letter: 'The Department accept that these standards will have significant implementation costs for some practices with perhaps a small minority only capable of complying by acquiring new practice premises.'

If your practice cannot comply, would it mean your practice would have to close? Sadly I have been made aware of two local dentists who are now filing for bankruptcy.

What would Sir Philip Green have to say about this policy considering he thought the information held about what the Government spent on services was so sketchy that if his business was run in that fashion 'the lights would go out'?