Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

What steps he is taking to facilitate overseas dentists practising in the UK.

We have just passed legislation that enables the General Dental Council to increase the capacity of the Overseas Registration Exam and improve their registration processes

We have also made it easier for overseas dentists to start working in the NHS. As of a few weeks ago, Saturday 1 April, no dentist will need to pay an application fee to NHS England to provide NHS services.

We want to radically reduce the time that people spend going through Performers List Validation by Experience (PLVE) and plan to set out further steps in our forthcoming dentistry plan.