General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education, Training and Qualifications) Order 2010

I thank the noble Lord for that clarification. The noble Lord, Lord Colwyn, raised the issue of dentists. As he will be aware, dentists are regulated by the General Dental Council and do not fall within the remit of either the GMC or the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board. The only registered dentists who will be affected by the scope of the draft order are consultants in oral maxillo-facial surgery. This group of specialists is required to be registered with the General Medical Council as well, as I am sure the noble Lord is aware, and to be included in the specialist register, as well as maintaining registration with the General Dental Council. Any changes to the current arrangements would be for the General Dental Council to consider, and certainly the department would work with it should the council wish to do so. The noble Lord, Lord Colwyn, also asked whether dentists need powers to re-register. If the General Dental Council indicated that it needed more powers in respect of emergency re-registration, we would be happy to consider that. I understand that discussions with the regulator about legislative changes are currently in hand. The noble Lord also raised the question of language testing. We are working with the GMC to explore whether there is any scope to include a language test as part of the registration. Our advice to date is that this is not possible under existing legislation, but we are certainly pursuing the matter because we think that it is very important. I am very grateful for the support of the noble Lord, Lord Addington. I think that, if he does not mind my saying so, he and I are the least expert people in the Chamber on these matters, although I have the benefit of a department. Finally, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Patel, for his remarks and wish him well with his review. I assure him that the department is consistent in its support for the cost of the merger and for ensuring that it takes place in an orderly fashion. We are grateful for the support for these proposals given by the GMC, and I join the noble Earl in paying tribute to the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board. Indeed, we are grateful for the support of the medical royal colleges and all the bodies that have an interest in improving the quality of medical education and training. In closing, I remind noble Lords that these changes bring benefits to the medical profession by placing in a single body responsibility for setting and assuring standards across the continuum of postgraduate medical education and training. Most importantly, over the longer term, the proposed merger will bring significant benefits to NHS patients by improving standards of education and training for doctors in the UK. Motion agreed.