The following table shows how many full time equivalent (FTE) National Health Service dentists were employed in 2024 within the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB), which includes the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency, as well as regional figures for the Midlands:

Notes:

1. we do not hold data on how many NHS dentists are employed at a constituency level or for the West Midlands region; and
2. FTE refers to hours worked by one full-time employee during a standard workweek. The employee is contracted to do 37.5 hours per week.

Data is not held for full time equivalent NHS dentists employed in 2010.

Primary care dentistry in the National Health Service is delivered through contracts structured around Units of Dental Activity (UDAs). Each treatment is allocated a number of UDAs in proportion to the complexity and amount of work required. The following table shows the number of UDAs delivered by dentists who have qualified within the United Kingdom and outside thereof whilst working in the NHS in England for 2016/17 onwards:

Source: NHS Business Services Authority

Notes:

1. The dentist’s region of qualification is based on that as provided on the General Dental Council (GDC) register. It is important to note that not all dentists have a country of qualification on the GDC register as supplied to the NHS Business Services Authority, and so these dentists are placed into “other” as their region of qualification.
2. The Department does not hold data on how much private dental work was completed in the last 10 years.

The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator of dentists and dental care professionals (DCPs) practising in the United Kingdom and enforces the standards they must adhere to. In order to practise in the UK, all dentists and DCPs are required to hold registration with the GDC.

The Department does not hold data on how many dentists have been registered with the GDC. Data on the registration of dentists and DCPs with the GDC is held by the GDC. The GDC regularly publish registration reports on their website at the following link:

https://www.gdc-uk.org/about-us/what-we-do/the-registers/registration-reports

The following table shows the number of dentists with National Health Service activity in England only between the years 2010/11 to 2022/23:

Number of dentists with NHS activity in England

Source: Data is from the NHS Dental Statistics for England Annual Report 2017-18 (Workforce Table 8a) and the NHS Dental Statistics for England Annual Report 2022-23 (Workforce Table 1a). The reports are available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics

Data on how many dental nurses, dental hygienists, dental technicians, dental therapists, orthodontic therapists, and clinical dental technicians are registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) is available at the following link:

https://www.gdc-uk.org/about-us/what-we-do/the-registers/registration-reports

In order to practise in the United Kingdom, all members of the dental team must be registered with the GDC. The Department does not hold data on the number of employed dental nurses, dental hygienists, dental technicians, dental therapists, orthodontic dentists, or clinical technicians.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan published on 30 June 2023 sets out an ambition to expand dentistry training places by 40% so that there are over 1,100 places by 2031/32. Details of this can be found at the following link on page 130:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nhs-long-term-workforce-plan-2/

The Office for Students (OfS) publish annual data showing the number of entrants to dental degrees in England each year from 2012 to 2023, split by those paying home fees and those paying other fees, which can be used as a proxy for the numbers of domestic and international students respectively.

This data can be found at:

https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/funding-for-providers/health-education-funding/medical-and-dental-intakes/

The Government controls the number of dental school places that it funds. The OfS sets a maximum number of funded places for dental degrees on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education. Each provider is allocated a number of these places, but may take slightly fewer or more people than their allocated number, for example if exam results are unexpectedly good. For this reason, the target for funded places does not necessarily match actual intakes, though the difference is often not large. Therefore, we have linked to entrant figures in response to this question.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan published on 30 June 2023 sets out an ambition to expand dentistry training places by 40%, so that there are over 1,100 places by 2031/32.

Data on units of dental activity (UDAs) delivered by foundation dentist trainees between April and November 2023 is available at the following link:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/english-contractor-monthly-general-dental-activity

Data from 2016 onwards will be published shortly.

As part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, the Government committed to expanding dentist training places so that there are 1,000 places by 2028/29. No specific estimate is available for the increase in dental undergraduate costs, but along with the other commitments to increase training places for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare roles, it is estimated that this will cost an additional £2.4 billion cumulatively, on top of current education and training budgets. This will support a 27% expansion in training places by 2028/29.

Dentists must be listed on the Dental Performers List (DPL), to deliver National Health Service dental services in England. The DPL is managed by NHS England, which does not currently collect data on DPL application processing times in the format requested. NHS England is committed to working to ensure DPL applications are managed as quickly as possible to support the delivery of NHS dentistry.

Those administering the vaccines are either existing healthcare staff or those recruited specifically for the programme– including those who signed up to the NHS Bring Back scheme.   There are a number of roles within the vaccination programme and these will require different levels of qualifications and experience.

The Department recently changed legislation to allow a wider group of people to administer vaccines, including more health care professionals as well as others who have passed a programme of training developed by Public Health England and Health Education England. New vaccinators will be assessed in person and closely supervised to ensure their and patients’ safety.