Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the amount charged for annual registration fees by the (a) General Chiropractic Council, (b) General Dental Council, (c) General Medical Council, (d) General Optical Council, (e) General Osteopathic Council, (f) General Pharmaceutical Council, (g) Health and Care Professions Council, (h) Nursing and Midwifery Council and (i) Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

The nine health and care professional regulatory bodies in the United Kingdom are independent statutory bodies. Accordingly, they are responsible for determining the level of the annual fee they charge for registration. Information on the amount charged by the regulatory bodies for annual registration is publically available and is shown in the following table:

The Department is clear that we would not expect registration fees to increase beyond their current levels, unless there is a clear and robust business case that any increase is essential to enable the regulators to exercise statutory duties.