Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals Consultation

Committee. 34
4.62 Some regulators have case specific prohibitions which are aimed at ensuring
independence in the way that cases are considered. For example, at the General
Chiropractic Council and General Osteopathic Council a member of the
Professional Conduct Committee or Health Committee cannot deal with a case if
they were also a member of a committee which referred the allegation. 35 At the
General Pharmaceutical Council, a member of a Fitness to Practise Committee
which has made an Interim Order cannot sit on subsequent proceedings in that
case (unless they relate solely to the Interim Order). 36
4.63 The General Pharmaceutical Council rules also include detailed provisions on
who can be committee members. These include prohibitions on employees of the
Council and certain people who have been the subject of disciplinary
proceedings from membership of any statutory committees. 37 The rules provide
for the establishment of required competencies and standards and training for
members of statutory committees (including requirements to attend and prepare
for meetings). 38
Size of committees
4.64 Some of the Councils set limits for the size of committee membership. These
limits can relate both to the overall number of committee members and to
individual committees or panels. For example, the Health Professions Council’s
rules provide that the overall size of each Practice Committee must be no more
than 350 members from which individual committees are composed (quorum of
three). 39
Provisional view
4.65 The statutory committee system is a long established feature of the regulatory
framework. The main advantage of this system being that it provides for a clear
delineation of roles within the regulator and therefore promotes transparency.
One option for law reform might be the consolidation of the existing requirements
into a single list of statutory committees for all the regulators. However, such
consolidation would be difficult to achieve. There is little consistency in the
statutory committees that are currently required to be established across the
regulators. Indeed, there is no one statutory committee that is common to all
regulators, although it is the case that the Investigation Committee and Fitness to
Practise Committee are common to most.
34
Nursing and Midwifery Council (Midwifery and Practice Committees) (Constitution) Rules
2008, SI 2008 No 3148, r 4(2).
35 Chiropractors Act 1994, s 24(2) and Osteopaths Act 1993, s 24(2).
36 Pharmacy Order 2010, SI 2010 No 231, sch 1 para 5(4)(c).
37
General Pharmaceutical Council (Statutory Committees and their Advisers) Rules 2010, SI
2010 No 1616, r 8.
38 As above, r 10.
39 Health Professions Council (Practice Committees and Miscellaneous Amendments) Rules
2009, SI 2009 No 1355, r 3(1) and (6).
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