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 potential impact of delays to fitness to practice investigations on dentists' mental health.

No assessment has been made by the Department. The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator for dentists and dental care professionals in the United Kingdom. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) is responsible for overseeing the work of the healthcare professional regulators. The PSA’s latest report on the GDC’s performance is available at the following link:

https://www.professionalstandards.org.uk/docs/default-source/publications/performance-reviews/monitoring-report-gdc-2022-23.pdf?sfvrsn=aa0b4a20_7