Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that non-dentists working in NHS dental services can contribute to an NHS pension.

The NHS Pension Scheme is an occupational pension scheme designed for staff engaged primarily in the delivery of services in the National Health Service. Employees of NHS trusts, for example, are normally engaged wholly in the delivery of NHS services and are therefore eligible for membership.

The majority of NHS dental services are contracted via a provider-performer dentist, with dental practices operating as private businesses. As a result, practices engage dental nurses and other dental care professionals as required for both their private and NHS business needs. As a result, it is difficult to identify staff as being primarily engaged in the delivery of NHS services and for this reason dental practice staff are unable to join the scheme.

As part of our work to improve the use of skill mix in dental teams, we are now collecting additional data on NHS care delivered by these staff members, which will support decision making in this area should it be considered further in the future.