Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals Consultation

Government policy
2.92 Government policy on future mergers of regulators recognises “the disruption and
professional concern that centrally imposed consolidation can cause” but
nonetheless:
should any regulators wish to propose mergers with other regulatory
bodies to reduce costs as part of this work, the Government will view
these proposals sympathetically. 51
2.93 As an alternative to mergers, the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence
has been commissioned to undertake a sector wide review of the cost-efficiency
and effectiveness of each regulator. But if cost reductions are not forthcoming
over the next three years, “then the Government will revisit the issue of
consolidating the sector into a more cost-effective configuration”. 52
2.94 The Government has stated that it does not support the extension of statutory
regulation to all health and social care workers in the UK. Instead, a system of
voluntary registration is to be introduced for professionals and occupational
groups which are currently not subject to statutory professional regulation. The
Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence will act as the national accrediting
body, and will set standards against which the governance, procedures,
registration criteria and performance of voluntary registers will be judged. 53
Voluntary registers are discussed in Part 5.
Provisional view
2.95 We make no provisional proposals in relation to the number of regulatory bodies
or regulated professions. This is a matter for the Government to decide in the
light of political policy and resource considerations. However, it is important for
the new statute to be future proofed and allow for the development of policy in
these areas. It may be the case that in the future a number of the existing
regulators decide to merge and/or Government may decide that new regulatory
bodies are needed or to extend regulation to other occupational groups.
2.96 Section 60 orders are the main mechanism through which such reforms are
achieved currently, although as noted above they do not allow for the abolition of
any of the existing regulators.
2.97 We provisionally propose that a regulation-making power should be included in
the statute which would allow the Secretary of State to abolish or merge any
existing regulator, or to establish a new regulatory body. In addition, the
Secretary of State would be given the power to add new professional groups to,
or remove professional groups from, the statute.
2.98 However, before using these powers the Government would be required to
undertake a full public consultation. Furthermore, the Secretary of State must be
satisfied that the use of these powers does not undermine in any way the health,
51 As above, paras 2.6 to 2.7.
52 As above, para 2.7.
53 As above, paras 4.1 to 4.14.
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