Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals Consultation

5.90 In some cases, the right to appeal is to the High Court in England and Wales, the
Court of Session in Scotland, or the High Court in Northern Ireland. But
elsewhere the appeal is to the county court or in Scotland to a sheriff. 68
Provisional view
5.91 Other than requiring the regulators to publish a register, we believe that the
regulators should be given discretion to determine matters relating to the upkeep
and publication of the register. We therefore propose that the Councils should be
given broad rule-making powers on these matters.
5.92 In our view, it is important for the new statute to ensure that all the regulators
have powers to deal with fraudulently procured or incorrectly made entries. We
have considered whether the statute should impose a consistent process for
dealing with these matters across the regulators, for example by requiring that
the decision to remove such entries can be made only by a Fitness to Practise
Panel or the Registrar. However, this would have resource implications for some
regulators and is not in keeping with our general approach to law reform which
would give the regulators greater autonomy to exercise their statutory functions
(see provisional proposal 2-2). Instead, we think the statute should provide a
broad duty within which the regulators can establish their own process.
5.93 We propose that each regulator should be required to establish a process for
dealing with fraudulently procured or incorrectly made entries. Councils would be
given discretion in deciding the precise process they wish to introduce, subject to
other considerations such as the outcome of consultation (see Part 2). This could
involve the establishment of a bespoke panel or committee, or giving the decision
to the Registrar or a Fitness to Practise Panel.
5.94 We propose that the right of appeal should in all cases be to the High Court in
England and Wales, the Court of Session in Scotland, or the High Court in
Northern Ireland. However, as noted above, we also welcome views on whether
such appeals should be considered under the tribunal structure created by the
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. This is discussed in Part 9 (see
question 9-3).
Provisional Proposal 5-18: The regulators should have broad powers to
establish rules concerning the upkeep and publication of the register.
Provisional Proposal 5-19: The statute should require each regulator to
establish process for dealing with fraudulently procured or incorrectly made
entries. The regulators would have broad powers to decide the precise
process it wishes to introduce.
Provisional Proposal 5-20: The statute should provide a right to appeal
against registration decisions relating to fraudulently procured or incorrectly
made entries, to the High Court in England and Wales, the Court of Session in
Scotland, and the High Court in Northern Ireland.
68 Health Professions Order 2001, SI 2002 No 254, art 38(1)(b) and Nursing and Midwifery
Order 2001, SI 2002 No 253, art 38(1)(b).
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