Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to allow (a) the General Dental Council and (b) other professional bodies to offer additional Overseas Registration Exam places to help (i) Ukrainian and (ii) other qualified refugee dentists, to practise in the UK.

The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator of dentistry in the United Kingdom. Its responsibilities include setting standards that must be met by domestic and international applicants wishing to be added to the UK dental register.

Legislative changes came into effect in March 2023 that gave the GDC greater flexibility in how it operates the processes for registering overseas-qualified dentists, including its Overseas Registration Exam (ORE). The GDC is using these powers to put new ORE provider contracts in place in 2025, which will increase the availability of the exam.

On 6 December 2024, the GDC’s Council approved a policy that gives candidates with refugee or protected status priority access to ORE booking for up to two attempts each for part one and part two. The policy is being implemented in time for the April 2025 sittings of the exam. Candidates were sent an email on 13 January 2025 inviting them to submit evidence of their refugee status in order to access the exam booking system in advance of the general booking window opening.