Responding to the Department of Health and Social Care’s white paper, ‘Integration and Innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all’, Ian Brack, chief executive and registrar of the General Dental Council, said, “We very much welcome the government’s renewed commitment to regulatory reform, something for which we have been making the case for some time.
“The General Dental Council continues to operate within the limits of outdated and restrictive legislation which, in many instances, prevents a flexible, efficient and proportionate approach to regulation. While we have made improvements within the current framework, further progress without legislative change will be limited and so we look forward to continued collaboration with the department towards the shared aim of achieving as rapid a solution as possible.
“We also note the proposed creation of new powers for the secretary of state to remove professions from regulation and abolish individual regulators. We understand that the government does not have any specific plans to use such a new power, which in any case is dependent on parliament approving the necessary legislative change. In the meantime, our primary focus as ever remains on maintaining public protection and confidence in dental services.”