To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to increase the number of NHS dentists. (132869)

The latest available data show there were 20,887 dentists eligible to provide national health service dental services or listed on NHS contracts in England as at 31 December 2006. This is around 1,500 more than in March 2005 and over 4,000 more than in 1997. Under the dental reforms introduced in April 2006, primary care trusts (PCTs) are commissioning an increasing volume of NHS dental services, which is likely to result in further workforce increases. In 2005, the Government expanded the number of dental school places by 25 per cent. in order to support longer-term increases in the dental workforce.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of dentists who qualified in the last 15 years who are still practising in England. (133400)

This information is not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of dentists who practise in the NHS who were trained abroad. (133401)

The available information is for England. The latest information available is as at 31 March 2006. As of that date, there were 4,163 dentists reported as eligible to provide national health service services in England who had qualified outside the United Kingdom.

Fuller information including a breakdown by country of qualification is available in table 8 of “NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006”, which has been placed in the Library.

The report, published by The Information Centre for health and social care, is also available online at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dwfactivity.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists qualified in the UK in each of the last 15 years. (132728)

Information on the number of dentists who have graduated from dental schools in the United Kingdom is available from 1992.