§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the oral statement of the Minister of State, Department of Health hon. Member for Doncaster, Central (Ms Winterton), of 11 May 2004,Official Report, column 22WH, how many overseas dentists he expects to start working in the armed services; and if he will make a statement. [178565]
§ Mr. CaplinThe Ministry of Defence employs two types of dentist—those who are part of the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, and Civilians employed as Civilian Dental Practitioners (CDPs) or as locums, who work within the Defence Dental Agency (DDA).
In order to become a military dentist, individuals have to satisfy the nationality requirement to join the armed forces. This requires that applicants must be UK, Commonwealth or Irish Republic nationals. Therefore recruitment of Military dentists from outside of these areas does not take place.
The DDA does however recruit some civilian and locum dentists from the European Economic Area (EEA) and other countries, in addition to those from the UK, Commonwealth and the Irish Republic.