Commentary on Sections The Council for the Regulation of Health Care Professionals Section 25: The Council for the Regulation of Health Care Professionals
134.Section 25 provides for the establishment of a Council for the Regulation of Health Care Professionals (“the Council”).  It gives the Council the functions of promoting the interests of patients and other members of the public in the way that the existing (and any future) statutory regulatory bodies carry out their work, and promoting co-operation between them.
135.Subsection (3) lists the bodies within the Council’s remit.  The bodies referred to in subsection (3)(h) have now been abolished and replaced from 1st April 2002 by 2 successor bodies – the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Health Professions Council – which are therefore brought within the remit of the Council by subsection (3)(i). Subsection (3)(j) provides that if in future other health care professions are regulated by a new body set up by an Order under section 60 of the Act, they would also be covered by the Council.
136.Schedule 7 makes more detailed provisions about the constitution of the Council.  The constitution given to the Council is designed to enable it to operate independently from the Government, amongst other standard provisions.
137.Paragraph 4 sets out the membership of the Council which will consist of one appointee each from the regulatory bodies and the relevant authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; and a number appointed by the Secretary of State (but see paragraph 5 of the Schedule).  The combined number of members appointed by the Secretary of State and the devolved administrations will exceed the number of regulatory body members by one.  Some of the members appointed by the regulatory bodies might also come from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
138.Paragraph 4 also deals with the appointment of the Chairman.  The Secretary of State will appoint the first chairman, in order to allow the new body to begin establishing itself more rapidly, for example by finding premises. Similar arrangements have been made in the past on the establishment of other new bodies. Subsequent chairmen will be appointed by the Council from among their own number.
139.Paragraph 5 allows the Secretary of State to delegate his power of appointment of members to a Special Health Authority. The Government gave a commitment in the Commons that this power would be delegated to the NHS Appointments Commission.  The intention is for the NHS Appointments Commission to appoint two kinds of members; a small number who will speak for the interests of health care providers and a larger number who will speak for the interests of patients and the wider public.
140.Paragraph 6 provides for the Secretary of State to make regulations providing for the appointment of the chairman and other members of the Council.  The intention is that these should ensure the independence of the Council from Government, for example in the provision they make for tenure of office and removal from office.
141.Paragraphs, 7-13, 16, 17 and 18 are routine provisions relating to the establishment of a new public body which provide the Council with the necessary legal structure for its effective operation including the power to take its own decisions about its internal procedures and to appoint staff.
142.Paragraph 14 makes provisions for the financing of the Council. It is the intention that the Council’s work should be financed out of money provided by Parliament and paid to it by the Secretary of State. The paragraph also allows for the future possibility that money provided by Parliament might be loaned to the Council, and that authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland might, if they so decide, provide grants or loans to the Council.
143.Paragraphs 14(7) and 14(8) give the Secretary of State, and, if they make grants or loans, the Assembly, Scottish Ministers or the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland, a power to direct the Council on the application of grants and loans.  Such directions might relate, for example,  to the way the Council secures value for money in its expenditure.  The Council will be financed by monies voted by Parliament for the Health Vote, and the Secretary of State and the Department of Health’s Accounting Officer are therefore accountable to Parliament for this. These sub-paragraphs therefore allow the Secretary of State to fulfil his financial responsibilities to Parliament.  They do not confer a wider power on him to direct the Council more generally as to how it should exercise its business.  He cannot for example direct it to direct a regulatory body using its powers under section 27.
144.Paragraph 15 makes provision for annual accounts and requires that they be laid before (or published) by Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
145.Paragraph 16 provides for the Council to make an annual report to Parliament on its work.  This report will also be laid before the devolved assemblies.  The Council will be accountable to Parliament rather than to the Secretary of State.  The Council will also be accountable to the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly in so far as its activities relate to devolved matters.
146.Paragraph 19 provides that if the Council holds a meeting in Northern Ireland, it will be open to the public on the same basis as District Council meetings are there at present. This is mirrored for Great Britain by paragraph 21, which applies the provisions of the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, to the Council.
147.The effect of paragraph 20 is that the records of the Council are public records for the purposes of the Public Records Act 1958.
148.The effect of paragraph 24 is that the Council is a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.