Explanatory note

This Order approves the General Pharmaceutical Council (Amendment of Miscellaneous Provisions) Rules 2012 (“the Rules”). The Rules were made by the General Pharmaceutical Council (“the Council”) under the Pharmacy Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/231).

Part 2 of the Rules amends the General Pharmaceutical Council (Statutory Committees and their Advisers) Rules 2010 in respect of committee composition, appointment of committee members, the length of membership, the functions of the committees and the role of secretaries and legal advisers to the committees. Rule 4 makes changes to the overall composition of each statutory committee by specifying more flexible limits on the total number of members that each statutory committee is to have. Rules 5 and 6 make changes to the functions of the Investigating Committee and the functions of the Fitness to Practise Committee. Rule 5 removes certain functions of the Investigating Committee and both rules 5 and 6 require each committee to provide advice to the Council in connection with specified matters. Rule 7 requires the Appointments Committee to exercise its functions in such way as to ensure that the requirements are met as to the size and composition of each of the statutory committees. Rule 8 replaces a complete prohibition on multiple committee membership with a narrower restriction on a person being a member of both the Investigating Committee and of any other statutory committee. Rule 9 removes the role of the Appointments Committee in advising the Council about the competencies it considers appropriate for committee members. Rule 10 enables a person to be appointed as a committee member for a term that is less than 4 years. Rule 11 provides for a single reserve list to operate in relation to all the statutory committees listing the persons who are eligible for appointment. Rule 12 amends provisions for suspension and removal from that list. Rule 13 imposes restrictions on when a person can be co-opted as a member of more than one statutory committee. Rule 14 enables a person to act as a secretary to both the Investigating Committee and the Fitness to Practise Committee, subject to certain restrictions. Rules 15 and 16 make amendments to the requirements that apply to the composition of the Fitness to Practise Committees and the Appeals Committee in particular cases. Rule 17 makes changes to the requirements as to when a legal adviser is required to attend proceedings.

Part 3 of the Rules amends the General Pharmaceutical Council (Fitness to Practise and Disqualification etc.) Rules 2010. Rule 19, and rules 21 and 22 in part, make changes to take account of the fact that a person may act as a secretary to more than one statutory committee (to take account of the amendment made by rule 14). Rule 20 amends the procedure of the Investigating Committee to require it to take account of guidance issued by the Council, following advice given by that Committee and by the Fitness to Practise Committee, about the referral criteria the Investigating Committee is to use in relation to allegations about a registrant’s fitness to practise (to take account of the amendments made by rules 5(2)(b) and 6(a)). The remainder of rules 21 and 22, and rule 23, amend provisions that relate to the use by the Fitness to Practise Committee of guidance issued by the Council, following advice given by that Committee, in relation to sanctions that particular classes of cases before that Committee should attract (to take account of the amendment made by rule 6(b)). Rule 24 amends the provision that sets out who may represent a person at a hearing before the Fitness to Practise Committee, by replacing the reference to a representative of a defence organisation with a reference to a representative of a relevant organisation, as defined.

Part 4 of the Rules makes a number of amendments to the General Pharmaceutical Council (Registration) Rules 2010 in relation to the procedures for verifying copies of certain documents that are required in support of an application for entry in the register.