Chamber and committees

That ties in with our work with the other three nations on ensuring that we get that pipeline of dentists. My view is that I cannot imagine a better place to work than Scotland, and I know that certain practices have been very good at attracting dentists. I appreciate what Brian Whittle said about the number of international dentists coming to Scotland and the impact on their home countries, but I should say that I have had the privilege of meeting five dentists from India who chose to work in the Borders. They wanted to come to Scotland, because they saw it as an opportunity.

We have to ensure that we provide the right opportunities, but it is also important that we give dentists who are either coming out of university in Scotland or coming from an international country the right support once they are qualified. That is part of the work that we have been talking about with regard to next year’s budget and ensuring that, as Tom Ferris indicated, we have the right support in place for dentists and dental therapists in these areas so that they are able to enjoy living and working in Scotland, which I am sure they will.

The directors of dentistry are a very important group of individuals who work closely with my officials. As you know, there is one in each health board, which is important, because they have oversight of what is happening in their areas and can feed that directly back to the Scottish Government dental team.

I have engaged directly with them as a group on two occasions, once in a Zoom—or Teams—meeting and once in person at one of their regular get-togethers. I think, Tom, that you meet them—

That does not mean that the rest of us do not have regular meetings with the directors of dentistry in between. Indeed, when I was, as I mentioned earlier, in the Borders, I had two specific meetings with the director of dentistry and discussed how they are looking at this issue not only at high-street level but within the hospital. I have also engaged with Dumfries and Galloway, Highland and others. We have on-going, regular meetings with the directors of dentistry; indeed, I started by saying that they are key in giving us information from a local level.

I will reflect on that, but Tom is shaking his head.

Public dental services are a very important part of our dental tapestry in Scotland and, as you highlighted, they provide emergency support. In areas where there has been an issue with high-street dentistry, we have worked closely with health boards by working directly with the public dental service. I can reference NHS Shetland and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in that regard. We are considering how we can support them, whether it is providing funding for additional dentistry support or supporting them in other ways.

That is the work that we have been doing to date, and it will continue with the new budget. As part of the funding in the new budget, £100 million has been set aside to support entry into primary care, and we will look to spend it in dentistry to support access.

Absolutely. That reflects my experience with regard to the graveyard that was around the museum that I worked in.

It is clear that South Ayrshire Council did fantastic work in response to the recent flooding of graves. It has done proportionate work to support families who were severely impacted and distressed by the flooding incident that happened there.

It is very much the case that local authorities have to look at gravestones and do the appropriate, proportionate work to them—whether that means, as you described, staking them, or looking at ones that might be of cultural or historical significance and perhaps doing more. We do not expect the regulations to change the work that councils are currently doing with regard to graveyards and gravestones.

It is important that people are registered with a dentist, because timely access is important if they need to see a dentist. However, there is also emergency access to dentistry within hospitals, for people who need that.

It is important that we have the right workforce within our practices. We are now very much concentrating on ensuring that we have the right number of dentists. As Tom Ferris indicated, that means not only dentists but dentistry teams, so we are looking at the importance of dental therapists and ensuring that there is the right training and governance to allow patients to see the appropriate person in a dental practice and at the right time.

We recognise that we need to improve that. I pass over to Tom Ferris to give you the details.

Yes, that is absolutely part of the challenge. Prior to Brexit, about 50 per cent of rural dentists came from Europe, but that has changed.

Indeed, one of the major items on the agenda of our four-nations meeting about two weeks ago was how to increase the pipeline of international dentists into Scotland and the UK. Sadly, some of that is reserved, but I know that the previous Conservative Government, along with the General Dental Council, which runs the exams, carried out a consultation to see whether there was some way of improving how and where the exams were delivered, to allow all four nations to increase the number of dentists available to look after people’s health.

That is where my portfolio intersects with different areas. Family nurse practitioners are doing amazing work in deprived areas in supporting new mums and young mums with various elements of their healthcare, as well as income and various other things. Following on from what Tom Ferris said, the introduction of a toothbrush to the baby box, which people asked for previously, is an important recognition of the importance that the Scottish Government places on healthcare and ensuring that children, young people and their families are much more aware of the importance of cleaning their teeth.