Download REHIS Journal 20/2 (Summer 2008) - The Royal ...

Environmental Health Scotlandthe power to designate Chartered EnvironmentalHealth Officers.I should like to conclude this article by setting out howall the foregoing fits together, using, in each instance,the most straightforward example I can think of.REHIS exists to provide a benefit to the community byinter alia ‘maintaining, by examination or otherwise,high standards of professional practice and conducton the part of Environmental Health Officers inScotland’.Its Charter demands this and the new law in Scotlandrequires charities to demonstrate a public benefit.REHIS awards the Diploma in Environmental Health,awarded its predecessor qualifications, and intends to bethe awarding body for any successor qualifications.Possession of the Diploma in Environmental Healthallows an individual to practise as an EnvironmentalHealth Officer (EHO) in Scotland. Membership ofREHIS is not required and there is no time limit onthe Diploma.Corporate Membership of REHIS allows an EHO toparticipate in the Scheme of Continuing ProfessionalDevelopment for Members who are EnvironmentalHealth Officers.EHOs who are not members cannot participate; theymight be able to attend training events and suchlike,but they cannot participate in this scheme.Corporate EHO Members of REHIS who arein possession of a valid Annual Certificate ofCompliance with the Scheme of ContinuingProfessional Development are entitled todescribe themselves as ‘Chartered EnvironmentalHealth Officers’.Only an EHO in current Corporate Membershipof REHIS can be a Chartered EHO.All Corporate Members of REHIS who are EHOsmust comply with the Regulations as to ProfessionalConduct and Discipline for Corporate Members whoare Environmental Health Officers.Only EHOs who are Corporate Members of REHISare required to comply. Non compliance would beaddressed using the Code of Disciplinary Proceduresfor Corporate Members who are Environmental HealthOfficers. If a Chartered EHO was removed frommembership, the right to use the designation wouldimmediately be lost.By these means, the Institute seeks to maintain highstandards of professional practice and conduct on thepart of Environmental Health Officers in Scotland.REHIS will endeavour to demonstrate the benefits ofEHOs being members of the Institute to employers,other organisations and the public generally.The Institute is seeking to do this for the benefit ofthe community, or in other words, to provide a publicbenefit.Any private benefit which members derive from thesearrangements is purely incidental.In one way and another, I have been involvedin the Royal Charter process and its subsequentdevelopments for 14 years and should like to placeon record my appreciation of the assistance andsupport I received from Council Members over theyears, Tom McFarlane, our solicitor then as now, andTom Bell and Helen Black, both of whom, happily,remain employees of the Institute.John Frater is the Council Member with responsibilityfor Royal Charter matters.***REHIS websitewww.rehis.orgNew features have beenadded to the members’ area.REHIS welcomes the submissionof articles for publication inEnvironmental Health Scotland.Submissions of researchbasedarticles are especiallywelcome.12