Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists have been recruited since the launch of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

Since the launch of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan on 30 June 2023, there has been an increase of 1,144 dentists registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) in England. From 15 January 2023 to 15 December 2023 there has been an increase of 1,423 dentists registered with the GDC in England.

The Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. The focus is not short-term recruitment but putting workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.

We will expand dentistry training places by 40% so that there are over 1,100 places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, we will expand places by 24% by 2028/29, taking the overall number that year to 1,000 places.