112.The 1965 Act is not prescriptive about the contents of the register and it is left to the GTC to prescribe, in rules, what information it contains. It is proposed that the information held on the register be increased, after consultation by the GTC with teachers and their employers. Section 47(1) enables Scottish Ministers to prescribe in regulations, if necessary, information which should be held on the register and the form and manner in which it should be kept. Before exercising such a power, Scottish Ministers would request the GTC to amend their rules in a particular way. If the Council did not respond to such a request, Scottish Ministers would consult the GTC on draft regulations.
113.The GTC have power to prescribe the information required from applicants for registration. The amendment made by section 47(2)(b) allows the GTC to prescribe new or updated information required from teachers already on the register and requires teachers to provide this information. An example might be current or past employment details or details about postgraduate qualifications. The amendment made by section 47(2)(a) incorporates an existing provision which allows the GTC to remove a teacher’s name from the register if he has not paid the prescribed fee, and to re-register the person if he makes an application and pays the fee. That amendment also enables the GTC to include in their rules provision for the removal of a teacher’s name from the register if he does not supply information, or a change in information, (as required by new section 6(5C) of the 1965 Act, inserted by section 47(2)(b)), and to re-register the person if he makes an application and pays the fee.
The Act The General Teaching Council General Section 47 – Further provision as to keeping of register of teachers