Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2021 to Question 84528 on Dentistry: Assessments, for what reason his Department has no plans to fund a catch-up programme of Overseas Registration Exams for dentists to compensate for disruption to those exams during the outbreak of covid-19; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits and estimated costs of running a catch-up programme.

The capacity of the Overseas Registration Exam (ORE) is constrained by rules within the General Dental Council’s (GDC) legislative framework that additional funding would not be able to address. The Department is currently working with the GDC on proposals which will amend this legislation and allow the GDC greater flexibility to expand on the registration options open to international applicants, including the capacity of the ORE. We plan to consult on these changes in early 2022.