Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has been made of the additional training and administrative cost for EU dentists seeking to work in the NHS beyond that required to enter private practice.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department has in place a period of continued automatic recognition, allowing European Union (EU) dentists continued ease of registration in the United Kingdom. In order to work in the National Health Service (NHS), dentists must also apply to the Dental Performers List. Holders of non-UK qualifications are required to undertake a foundation training programme before admittance to the performers list, however the exemption for EU applicants remains in place. This means that EU dentists do not currently incur any additional costs to practicing in the NHS than they did previously.
Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the value is of a unit of dental activity for each NHS dental practice in Wiltshire.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
This information is not held in the format available. A general dental services contract or personal dental services agreement covers a range of activity and service. The units of dental activity, against which contracts are monitored, form only part of those arrangements and therefore are not assigned a specific value.
Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to review the effectiveness of (a) the 2006 dental contract and (b) payment by units of dental activity.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Government is currently reviewing the effectiveness of the 2006 National Health Service dental contract and payment by units of dental activity as part of our commitment to improve NHS dentistry. NHS England and NHS Improvement are developing proposals for dental system reform, working closely with the Department and key stakeholders.
Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of foundation year dental graduates were employed in private practices in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
In the last five years, no dental foundation trainees have been employed in exclusively private practices. Health Education England appoint dental graduates to training practices with National Health Service contracts and where the educational supervisor is carrying out a high proportion of NHS dentistry.
Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many places at dental school will be available in each year to 2035, by dental school.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Office for Students (OfS) allocates places to dental schools on an annual basis. In the academic year 2021/22, in England, there were 983 dental school places allocated, including places for overseas students. Allocations for the 2022/23 academic year will be issued by the OfS in December 2021.
The following table shows the number of dental places per dental school in 2021/22.
Dental school | Places |
Birmingham | 86 |
Bristol | 93 |
University of Central Lancashire | 34 |
King’s College London | 162 |
Leeds | 84 |
Liverpool | 84 |
Manchester | 92 |
Newcastle | 71 |
Plymouth | 82 |
Queen Mary University of London | 107 |
Sheffield | 88 |
Following the Spending Review 2021, spending plans for individual budgets, including for the training and education of the dental workforce, will be subject to a detailed financial planning exercise and finalised in due course. Longer term workforce planning will be subject to future spending reviews.