Further Legislation
Following Royal Assent to the Health and Social Care Act 2008, other White Paper policies are being put in place through a series of secondary legislation, either under that Act or under section 60 of the Health Act 1999. The regulation of professions already being regulated at the time of the Scotland Act 1998 is reserved to Westminster. For professions regulated later, regulation is devolved, in Scotland, to the Scottish Parliament.
Three Orders have been made which have put in place some of the White Paper policies aimed at improved harmonisation and rationalisation across the regulators, including of their constitutions; and increased accountability, including to the Parliaments. Scotland provided input to all three Orders. The final one was approved by the Scottish Parliament as well as Westminster before Privy Council approval, as it contained devolved elements. That Order also introduced regulation for practitioner psychologists across the UK, and extended regulation to pharmacy technicians in Scotland.
These Orders were followed by Constitution Orders for all the regulators except the Royal Pharmaceutical Society for Great Britain (RPSGB) - see next paragraph. These Orders provided for smaller, more Board like Councils, appointed rather than elected, and with the Appointments Commission taking forward all appointments on behalf of the Privy Council. Each Council has to have at least one member who lives or works wholly or mainly in Scotland. Scotland provided a representative for all the panels considering Scottish members. Appointments have been made to all the new Councils, with those for the General Dental Council (GDC) to be confirmed formally from 1 October 2009.
A DH joint consultation with the Scottish Ministers has taken place on a draft General Pharmacy Order 2010 to transfer the regulation of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from the RPSGB to a new General Pharmaceutical Council The final version of the Order is likely to be laid for approval by resolution of the Scottish Parliament as well as Westminster in November 2009.
The Medical Profession (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2008 transferred the function of overseeing medical education from the Education Committee to the General Medical Council (GMC) itself, and paved the way for revalidation and licences to practise. It also restored the GMC's power to grant late entry to the Specialist Register. Commencement Orders have also been made to commence related articles in the Medical Act 1983 (Amendment) Order 2002 and the Medical Act 1983 (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Amendments Order 2006.
Legislation will be put in place to have the Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator operational from April 2011. This new body will adjudicate only for the General Medical Council and the General Optical Council in the first instance.
A DH consultation concluded on 28 August 2009 on the draft General and Specialist Medical Practitioners (Education, Training and Qualifications) Order 2010 which will transfer the Post Graduate Medical Education and Training Board to the GMC by April 2010. Responses are being considered for the final version of the Order.
Following discussions with SGHD, DH issued a consultation on Responsible Officer Regulations, which specify which organisations will have to have them and what the duties of Responsible Officers are to be. In England ROs will have additional clinical governance duties. The consultation, which can be accessed here, closes on 25 October 2009.
A DH consultation has taken place on an Order to transfer the regulation of hearing aid dispensers in the private sector from the Hearing Aid Council to the Health Professions Council. Responses are being considered for the final version of the Health Professions (Hearing Aid Dispensers) Order 2009.
In conjunction with DH and the other UK countries, consideration is also being given to the next in the series of section 60 Orders to implement further policies set out in Trust, Assurance and Safety.
Further information on legislation associated with implementation of the White Paper can be obtained from the Head of the Regulatory Unit, Catherine Clark, at Catherine.clark@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.