Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of the General Dental Council; and what steps he is taking to hold that body to account.

The General Dental Council (GDC) is the healthcare regulatory body responsible for the regulation of dentists and dental care practitioners in the United Kingdom and is independent of the Government.

The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) annually reviews each professional regulator’s performance against its Standards of Good Regulation and publishes its findings.

The most recent GDC report was published by the PSA in November 2017 and covered the 2016/17 period. It found that the GDC met all but one of the 24 standards of good regulation.