I read with interest the article Why bother with ethics and law? by Mark G. Brennan (Vital spring 2010; 37–39). I felt it dealt comprehensively with the issues facing DCPs in their professional lives, but I would like to correct one inaccuracy in the article.

The Council of the GDC is indeed made up of dentists, DCPs and lay people, but none of them are elected to their positions.

In 2007 the Government published a White Paper entitled: Trust, assurance and safety: the regulation of health professionals in the 21st Century. It set out plans for the future of healthcare regulation in the UK. Guided by this paper it was decided that a smaller, fully appointed Council would be more appropriate.

Our Council is now made up of 24 members (eight dentists, four DCPs and 12 lay people) instead of 29.

For the first time the make up of the Council now evenly reflects the people that provide and receive dental care. The move away from a mostly elected Council, and the involvement of the Appointments Commission in the recruitment process, has opened up the chance to be involved in the Council of the GDC to a whole new range of people from across the UK.

This new Council of the GDC held its first meeting in October last year and is now working towards the challenge of ensuring patient protection is at the forefront of everything we do whilst striving to become a leader in healthcare regulatory excellence.

For more information and profiles on all our Council Members please log on to our website www.gdc-uk.org.

Mark G. Brennan responds: I am grateful to Dr Lockyer, Chair of the GDC Council, for helpfully correcting my error. It is of course an important feature of the new GDC that members of the Council are appointed rather than elected, and that the Council now reflects a broader range of representation by dentists, DCPs and lay people through these appointments. This, in my view, helps to promote the setting and maintenance of ethical and other standards for dentistry. I should also like to commend the GDC for the guidance documents - Standards for dental professionals - which are extremely clear and well written.