Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has had recent discussions with the General Dental Council on increased investment in the applications process for dentists with overseas qualifications.

The Department meets regularly with the General Dental Council (GDC) to discuss application and registration processes for dentists with overseas qualifications. The Department welcomes the GDC’s recent announcements that it is increasing the number of places available to sit the Overseas Registration Exam (ORE). The GDC has tripled the number of places on sittings of ORE Part 1 for all sittings from August 2023 to the end of 2024. The GDC has also added an additional sitting of ORE Part 2 in 2024, bringing the total number of sittings up to four.