Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals Consultation

12.27 The duty to cooperate is a target duty since it does not specify which actions
constitute co-operation. This is significant in legal terms because general duties
are difficult to enforce and it is generally left to the authority in question to decide
when, and to what extent, the duty has a practical effect. 14 It is likely that a court
would find a breach of this duty only in extreme circumstances, such as where
there has been an express refusal to cooperate on unreasonable grounds.
12.28 Elsewhere, the governing legislation sets out more specific duties to cooperate.
Some of these are placed on the regulator itself, while others are placed on
external bodies. For example:
(1) requirements to consult specific organisations and internal committees
when the regulators undertake certain tasks such as the issuing of
guidance, codes of conduct, regulations, rules, competencies and
standards (see Part 2);
(2) duties on the regulators to publish their standards and requirements for
the approval of education qualifications, and make copies available for
the relevant institutions (see Part 6);
(3) requirements on the regulators to follow certain steps when withdrawing
their approval from education courses, such as notifying the relevant
body and providing reasons within a specified time scale (see Part 6);
(4) duties on education institutions to comply with any reasonable request for
information made by the regulator, and if the institution refuses then the
regulator may consider refusing or withdrawing approval from the
relevant course (see Part 6); and
(5) specific powers for the regulators to require the disclosure of information
in cases where the fitness to practise of a registrant is in question (see
Part 8).
12.29 The main difference between these requirements and the general duty to
cooperate relates to their enforceability. The requirements listed above in most
cases make it clear who has the duty, to whom the duty is owed and how the
duty must be carried out. Some of the requirements also specify negative
consequences that may arise from a failure to undertake the required action. In
this sense, many of these requirements are better categorised as duties to
undertake certain actions to ensure joined-up working, rather than duties to
cooperate. In contrast, general duties to cooperate are more difficult to enforce.
12.30 Also, the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence is placed under a general
duty to promote co-operation between regulatory bodies, and between them, or
any of them, and other bodies performing corresponding functions (see Part 10).
Other existing statutory duties to cooperate
12.31 Statute law in other areas has developed alternative mechanisms for
encouraging co-operation between agencies. For example, the NHS Act 2006
14 R v Secretary of State for Social Services ex p Hincks [1980] 1 BMLR 93.
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