Office of Public Sector Information

PART 4 Provisions relating to meetings and hearings

Committee secretary

16.—(1) Each committee shall be assisted by a secretary.

(2) No person shall act as secretary to a committee if he is a member of the Council.

(3) No person acting as secretary to the Investigating Committee may act as secretary to the Disciplinary or Health Committee.

(4) The secretary shall be responsible for the administrative arrangements relating to the proceedings of the committee.

(5) The secretary shall, in consultation with the chair of the relevant committee, select the legal, clinical and specialist advisers, to advise the committee, as required in any particular case.

(6) The secretary of a committee shall keep a record, or shall ensure that a record is kept, of all decisions made by the committee and of the reasons for them.

(7) The secretary shall not participate in the decision making of a committee (and is not entitled to vote).

The composition of committees at particular meetings or hearings

17.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the quorum for a meeting, other than a case management meeting, or a hearing of a committee shall be three members, which shall include—

(a) the chair or deputy chair;

(b) a lay member; and

(c) a professional member.

(2) Subject to paragraphs (4) to (7), the chairs of the Health and Disciplinary Committees shall, having consulted the secretaries of their Committees and with regard to the—

(a) matters to be considered by the committee; and

(b) availability, experience and expertise of committee members,

determine the particular size, composition and quorum of the Committee required for each hearing and any related meetings.

(3) Case management meetings shall be conducted by—

(a) the chair of the committee; or

(b) in the case of the Health Committee, the chair or a legal adviser to the committee.

(4) Where the chair of the Health or Disciplinary Committee determines that only specified members of the full Committee are required for a particular hearing and any related meetings, he shall also ensure that—

(a) he or a deputy chair of his Committee is one of the specified members;

(b) the quorum is not less than three; and

(c) the number of registrants who are members of that formation of his Committee does not exceed the number of other members by more than one.

(5) Subject to paragraph (6), the chairs of the Health and Disciplinary Committees shall ensure that a member of their Committee who has sat in a formation of the Committee that has made an interim order in a particular case shall not sit in subsequent proceedings in that case, and that member shall not sit in subsequent proceedings in that case.

(6) Paragraph (5) shall not apply where the subsequent proceedings relate solely to interim measures under article 54 of the Order.

(7) For the purposes of paragraph (5), where an interim order is made in the course of the proceedings to determine a case substantively, the rest of the proceedings to determine the case substantively are not “subsequent proceedings”, even if for whatever reason the case is adjourned.

(8) At any meeting or hearing of a committee, the number of professional members considering a case shall not exceed the number of lay members by more than one.

Provisions against bias

18.—(1) No member of a committee (or formation of a committee) shall sit as a member considering a particular case at any stage of the proceedings relating to that case, if that member has an actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to that case.

(2) The Registrar shall establish and maintain a register of the private interests of all the members of the committees (including chairs and deputy chairs).

(3) It shall be the duty of each member of a committee to notify the Registrar immediately of any private interest that he has not previously notified to the Registrar but which may need to be recorded in the register maintained under paragraph (2).

(4) The Registrar shall publish the register maintained under paragraph (2) on the Society’s website.

Voting

19.—(1) Decisions of a committee shall be taken by a simple majority of the members (the chair does not have a casting vote).

(2) If a member of a committee abstains, his abstention shall be treated as a vote against the motion that has been put to the vote.

Validity of proceedings

20.  The validity of any proceedings of a committee shall not be affected by any defect in the appointment of a committee member.

PART 5 Advisers and their advice

Functions of legal advisers

21.—(1) A legal adviser—

(a) shall be present at all meetings of the Investigating Committee at which a decision is to be taken as to whether or not to—

(i) refer a case to the Disciplinary Committee or to the Health Committee, or

(ii) notify the Registrar that the Society should consider exercising any of its powers to bring criminal proceedings;

(b) shall be present at any hearing before the Health Committee;

(c) may, at the request of the chair or the secretary, be present at any other hearing before a committee, other than a hearing before the Disciplinary Committee; and

(d) may be present at any other meetings or hearings of a committee of the Society, at the request of the Registrar or the chair of the committee.

(2) The function of the legal adviser at a meeting or hearing referred to in paragraph (1)(a) to (c) shall be to ensure that proceedings before the committee are conducted fairly.

(3) The legal adviser at a meeting or hearing referred to in paragraph(1)(a) to (c) shall—

(a) advise the committee on questions of law that are referred to him by members of the committee;

(b) intervene to advise the committee on an issue of law where it appears to him that, without his intervention, there is the possibility of an error of law being made;

(c) inform the committee immediately of any irregularity in the conduct of proceedings before it; and

(d) at the request of the chair, advise the committee on the structure, format and presentation of the reasons for a decision of that committee.

(4) The legal adviser at a case management meeting of the Health Committee, may, at the request of the chair of the Committee, conduct as much of the meeting as the chair requests him to conduct (notwithstanding that he is not a member of the committee), and while conducting the meeting, he may—

(a) issue directions to the parties; and

(b) deliver an opinion on questions of law and admissibility of evidence.

(5) At the request of the chair, the legal adviser who is present at a meeting or hearing of a committee referred to in paragraph (1) may be present during the private deliberations of a committee, but he shall not participate in the decision making of the committee (and is not entitled to vote).

Functions of clinical advisers

22.—(1) A clinical adviser—

(a) shall be present at any meeting of the Investigating Committee at which a decision is to be taken as to whether or not to refer a case to the Health Committee;

(b) shall be present at any hearing before the Health Committee; and

(c) may be present at any meeting of, or hearing before, the Registration Appeals Committee at which the health of an applicant for registration is, or is likely to be, considered.

(2) The function of the clinical adviser who is present at a meeting or hearing referred to in paragraph (1) shall be to—

(a) advise the committee on any issues within his areas of medical expertise that may be referred to him by a member of that committee; and

(b) intervene to advise the committee on an issue where it appears to him that, without his intervention, there is the possibility of an error being made.

(3) At the request of the chair, the clinical adviser who is present at a meeting or hearing referred to in paragraph (1) may be present during the private deliberations of a committee, but he shall not participate in the decision making of the committee (and is not entitled to vote).

Functions of specialist advisers

23.—(1) A specialist adviser—

(a) may be present at any meeting of the Investigating Committee at which a decision is to be taken as to whether or not to—

(i) refer a case to the Disciplinary Committee or to the Health Committee, or

(ii) notify the Registrar that the Society should consider exercising any of its powers to bring criminal proceedings;

(b) may be present at any hearing before the Disciplinary Committee at which an allegation of deficient professional performance is to be considered;

(c) may be present at any hearing before the Health Committee; and

(d) may be present at a meeting of, or hearing before, the Registration Appeals Committee.

(2) The function of a specialist adviser at a meeting or hearing referred to in paragraph (1) shall be to advise the committee on issues within his areas of expertise that may be referred to him by a member of that committee.

(3) At the request of the chair, the specialist adviser who is present at a meeting or hearing referred to in paragraph (1) may be present during the private deliberations of a committee, but shall not participate in the decision making of the committee (and is not entitled to vote).

Requirement to give or repeat advice in public

24.—(1) This rule shall not apply to proceedings before the Investigating Committee.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), any advice tendered by a legal, clinical or specialist adviser at a hearing shall be tendered in the presence of every party, or person representing a party, in attendance at the hearing.

(3) Where a statutory committee has begun to deliberate on its decision and needs to obtain advice in the course of its deliberations, a legal, clinical or specialist adviser may tender advice to the committee notwithstanding the absence of the parties or any person representing a party.

(4) Where advice is tendered in the absence of the parties or their representatives in accordance with paragraph (3)—

(a) the legal, clinical or specialist adviser shall repeat the advice tendered to the committee before the parties, or any person representing a party, in attendance at the hearing; and

(b) the parties or their representatives in attendance at the hearing shall be provided with a reasonable opportunity to comment on the advice given by the legal, clinical or specialist adviser, before the committee makes its decision on the issue under consideration.

Requirement to keep records of advice and interventions

25.—(1) The secretary to a committee shall keep a record of any advice tendered to that committee (or repeated) in public by the legal, clinical or specialist adviser to that committee.

(2) The chair of a committee shall keep a record of any interventions made by the legal, clinical or specialist adviser during the private deliberations of that committee.

(3) A copy of any advice tendered by the legal, clinical or specialist adviser shall be sent to the parties to the proceedings (that is, the Society and the appellant or person concerned, as the case may be) or their representatives, as appropriate.

Refusal by a committee to accept advice

26.  Where any advice tendered by the legal, clinical or specialist adviser to a committee is not accepted by that committee—

(a) the chair of the committee shall announce the reasons for not accepting the advice tendered; and

(b) the secretary to the committee shall—

(i) keep a record of the advice tendered, and the reasons why the committee refused to accept that advice, and

(ii) send a copy of the record of the advice tendered and the reasons why the committee refused to accept that advice, to the parties to the proceedings (that is, the Society and the appellant or person concerned, as the case may be) or their representatives, as appropriate.

Questioning of witnesses

27.  A legal, clinical or specialist adviser advising a committee in accordance with these Rules may, with the permission of the chair of that committee, question any witness appearing before the committee.