Other provisions Improving the competence of architects
The Act amends the power for the Architects Registration Board (ARB) to monitor competence of the architects on their Register. To use the title "architect", a person must be on the Architects Registration Board’s Register. Currently, architects are not required to undertake Continuing Professional Development (CPD) or any competence checks throughout their career.
	This power extends to all architects on the Register. The Architects Registration Board will set the criteria, in consultation with relevant bodies (such as the Royal Institute of British Architects) and other bodies in the sector, where appropriate. If an architect does not meet these requirements, the Architects Registration Board will have the power to remove them from the Register. The architect will be able to appeal such a decision to the new Appeals Committee, to be introduced by the Act.
	Existing architects will be able to apply to the Architects Registration Board for time extensions if they are unable to meet the prescribed criteria by the set date. If they do not meet the criteria by the extended date, they will be removed from the Register.
	Until now, if an architect was sanctioned, their ruling was listed on the Architects Registration Board website. The Act amends the Architects Act 1997 to allow disciplinary orders to be listed alongside the architect’s name on the Register, to increase transparency for consumers wishing to procure architectural services. The Architects Registration Board will create rules to determine the length of time until a disciplinary order is "spent" and can be removed from the Register.
	The Act allows the Secretary of State to make regulations about fees that the Architects Registration Board can charge. Such regulations will enable the Architects Registration Board to expand their list of chargeable services, as the current list is limited and does not cover the full range of services provided by the Architects Registration Board. The intention is that this would be on a cost-recovery basis, as the Architects Registration Board is self-funded.