Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals Consultation

2.50 We do not think it is necessary for the statute to specify matters such as the
format, timeframe and requirement to follow up with a formal response. These
and other matters are already covered by other legal provisions, such as the
Equality Act 2010 and the standards identified in Coughlan set out above.
2.51 As well as duties to consult the public, the statute would also place duties on the
regulators to inform the public about its work. This is discussed in Part 4.
Provisional Proposal 2-7: The statute should require the regulators to consult
whenever issuing or varying anything which is binding, anything which sets a
benchmark or standard, and a competency. The regulators should be required
to consult such persons it considers appropriate, including:
(1) members of the public, patients and service users;
(2) registrants (including business registrants);
(3) employers of registrants;
(4) the other health and social care professional regulators, the Council for
Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, the health and social care inspectorates,
the independent safeguarding authorities and any other regulatory bodies;
(5) the Department of Health, Northern Ireland Executive, Scottish
Government and Welsh Government;
(6) professional bodies that represent registrants;
(7) persons or bodies commissioning or funding the services provided by
registrants or at a registered premises/business.
PARLIAMENTARY ACCOUNTABILITY
2.52 As described in Part 1, the regulators have historically been seen as accountable
to registrants through the system of self-regulation. However, in law it has always
been the case that as statutory bodies, the regulators are accountable to the UK
Parliament (and in some cases also to the devolved assemblies).
2.53 The Privy Council is theoretically the main accountability mechanism. For
example, the regulators are required to seek the approval of the Privy Council in
order to make or amend rules (see above) and are required to submit certain
reports to the Privy Council (see below). The role of the Privy Council has been
seen by Government as ensuring that there is some distance between the
Government and the regulators, thus giving a measure of independence from
Government. It is also claimed that the Privy Council ensures wider cross-
Government participation and “is an important part of ‘joined-up Government’”. 29
29 See, http:www//privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/work-of-the-privy-counciloffice/professional-bodies/
(last visited 15 February 2012).
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