Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help facilitate the employment of dentists from overseas by NHS dental practices.

To deliver National Health Service dental services, a dentist must be registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) and listed on the Dental Performers List (DPL) of the country in which they wish to practise.

We have recently introduced legislation that enables the GDC to improve its international registration processes. The GDC is identifying the ways it considers these processes can best be improved, while maintaining the necessary standards for public protection, and is working to implement any changes over the next 12 months. In the meantime, the GDC has announced that it has tripled the number of places for Part 1 of its Overseas Registration Exam (ORE) in response to the current demand, meaning there will be 600 places available for the August 2023 sitting of the ORE Part 1, instead of the usual 200.

As of 1 April 2023, NHS England manages all applications to join the England DPL. This means all applicants who have not completed Dental Foundation Training in the United Kingdom are invited by NHS England to engage in a structured conversation that assesses whether they have the knowledge, skills, and experience to perform NHS primary dental services.

The change is intended to accelerate the process for overseas dentists to join the DPL and start working in the NHS.