Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals Consultation

to maximise efficiency and faster decision-making, and closer co-operation
between the supervisory and managerial roles of the regulator.
4.16 Under all three options, we envisage that the requirements in the statute relating
to registrant and lay members would apply. This is discussed in more detail
below.
4.17 We welcome views on all of these options. They are not intended necessarily to
be mutually exclusive options. It would be possible to create a structure in which
the regulators could retain a General Council and the statute would encourage it
to become more board-like, while also allowing individual regulators to move
away from this model and establish an executive board or a unitary board if they
wished to do so.
4.18 Moreover, the discussion in the rest of this consultation paper does not depend
on one particular governance model being introduced. The proposals apply to all
three models. When the paper refers to powers or duties being placed on the
Councils/regulators for example, this would apply whichever approach is
adopted. In the case of the executive board model this would infer that the
powers and duties would be placed on the board, while for the two other models
this would refer to the General Council. Where individual issues arise between
the three models, these are highlighted in the text.
4.19 The role of the Registrar in relation to the General Council is discussed
separately in Part 5.
Question 4-1: Should the statute: (1) reform the existing structure to
encourage Councils to become more board-like; and/or (2) reform the existing
structure by establishing a statutory executive board consisting of the chief
executive and senior directors; and/or (3) establish a unitary board structure
which would move away from a two-tier approach based on a Council and
officials?
STATUS OF THE COUNCILS
4.20 All of the regulators are bodies corporate established by statute. As creatures of
statute, their powers and duties are conferred and limited by that statute. A body
corporate has perpetual succession and a legal personality distinct from that of its
members.
4.21 A statutory body corporate can be held accountable in both public law and private
law. This is because it is able to exercise public law functions and perform private
law acts. Thus, it can be amenable to public law challenges such as judicial
review claims and claims under the Human Rights Act 1998; and in private law, it
can be liable for failures to perform contracts and for its tortious actions, and also
vicariously liable for the tortious actions of its employees.
4.22 The General Medical Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council are also
charities registered with the Charity Commission. This brings certain tax
advantages and means the body is subject to the regulatory framework of the
Charity Commission. The regulatory framework includes administration
requirements on charities (such as annual returns and financial reporting) and the
provision of information and advice by the Commission. The Commission has
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