Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to collect data regarding a dental workforce to improve the (1) recruitment, and (2) retention, of dentists.

The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan next year, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals, including dental professionals, required in future years. This will take into account improvements in retention and productivity and will make use of available data sources.