Commentary on Sections The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care Section 229 - Accreditation of voluntary registers
1352.This section inserts new sections 25G, 25H and 25I into the 2002 Act, and makes other amendments to the 2002 Act which relate to the Authority’s new functions under these new sections.
1353.Section 25G empowers the Authority to accredit voluntary registers. Accreditation refers to formal recognition by the Authority that a voluntary register meets certain specified criteria that it sets relating to the operation and governance of voluntary registers.
1354.More specifically, the Authority is given the power to, on an application by a regulatory body or other person who maintains a voluntary register, take any steps it considers to be appropriate in order to establish whether the register meets its accreditation criteria. The Authority’s accreditation criteria will be set from time to time and subsection (2) of section 25G sets out a number of particular matters which the Authority may include in its accreditation criteria.
1355.The Authority must publish its accreditation criteria, and it has the power to publish a list of accredited registers.
1356.The Authority may review accredited registers to determine whether they continue to meet the accreditation criteria, and may remove, suspend or impose conditions on the accreditation of a register if it is not satisfied that the criteria continue to be met.
1357.The Authority may determine the fee to be paid by persons or bodies maintaining voluntary registers for accreditation, and may refuse or remove accreditation if the fee is not paid.
1358.Section 25H imposes a duty on the Authority to carry out an impact assessment prior to accrediting a voluntary register under section 25G. It provides that the Authority must have regard to any appropriate guidance in carrying out the assessment; must consider, in particular, the likely impact on registrants and potential registrants, employers of registrants and potential registrants, and users of health care and English social care and social work services; may request information from the person or body who maintains the voluntary register in order to carry out the assessment (and may refuse to accredit the register in the case of non-compliance with this request); may publish its impact assessment; and must have regard to the impact assessment in deciding whether to accredit a voluntary register. It must also consult such persons as it considers appropriate prior to accrediting a register.
1359.Section 25I confers three new functions on the Authority. These are:
	to promote the interests of users of health care in the UK, users of social care in England, users of social work services in England, and other members of the public in relation to the maintenance or operation of accredited voluntary registers;
	to promote best practice in the maintenance and operation of accredited voluntary registers; and
	to develop principles of good governance for voluntary registers and encourage keepers of voluntary registers to follow these.
1360.Subsections (2) to (5) of this section amend section 26 of the 2002 Act to provide that the Authority’s powers under section 26(2) (as limited by section 26(3)) extend to any person who maintains an accredited voluntary register, not just to regulatory bodies.
1361.Subsection (6) amends section 26A of the 2002 Act to empower the Secretary of State to request advice from the Authority on any matter connected with the accreditation of voluntary registers, and obliges the Authority to comply with this request. The Scottish Ministers, Welsh Ministers and Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland are also empowered to request advice from the Authority (and the Authority must comply with this request) on any matter connected with the accreditation of voluntary registers, apart from voluntary registers concerned with unregulated social care workers in England or students of social work or social care work in England. As with the other requests for advice etc that are made under section 26A, a fee of such amount as is determined by the Authority must be paid for such advice.
1362.Subsections (7) to (9) amend section 26B of the 2002 Act to provide that the Authority’s duties to provide or publish information about the Authority’s exercise of its functions and to consult the public on matters relevant to the exercise of its functions do not extend to its functions relating to accreditation of voluntary registers. However, new subsection (1B) provides that the Authority has the power to provide or publish information about the exercise of its functions relating to the accreditation of voluntary registers.