Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the implications of proposed changes to the General Dental Council (Overseas Registration Examination Regulations) on dental staffing numbers.

The Department has worked with the General Dental Council (GDC) to develop and consult on legislative proposals to allow the regulator greater flexibility to amend its existing international registration processes and explore alternative registration pathways as appropriate. The resulting draft Order was debated in the House of Commons on 6 December 2022. It is scheduled for debate in the House of Lords on 9 January 2023. Subject to the completion of the Parliamentary approvals process, we aim to introduce the legislative changes in February 2023.

The Department has not made any assessment of the implications of the proposed changes on dental staffing numbers. It will be for the GDC, as an independent regulator, to decide how best to use the flexibility that these proposals allow. Following the legislative changes, we understand the GDC will consult on changes to how its Overseas Registration Exam operates, which would enable it to increase the number of dentists it can assess, potentially allowing overseas dentists to join its register more quickly.