The General Chiropractic Council (Constitution of the Statutory Committees) Rules Order of Council 2009

PART 2Provisions specific to each statutory committee

The Education Committee: composition, terms of office of ordinary members and quorum

2.—(1) The Education Committee shall consist of—

(a)5 members who are members of the General Council, appointed by it;

(b)5 members who are not members of the General Council but who are appointed by it; and

(c)any members the Education Committee co-opts, if they are approved by the General Council in accordance with rule 11 and subject to a maximum number of 5 co-opted members.

(2) The terms of office of the ordinary members of the Education Committee shall be determined by the General Council, on appointment (or re-appointment).

(3) The quorum of the Education Committee shall be 5, of whom at least 2 shall be members of the General Council.

Appointment of the ordinary members of the Education Committee who are members of the General Council

3.—(1) If there is a vacancy amongst the ordinary members of the Education Committee who must be members of the General Council, that vacancy shall be filled by a member of the General Council selected in accordance with this rule.

(2) The Registrar shall invite members of the General Council to nominate members of the General Council to fill the vacancy—

(a)in writing before a specified meeting of the General Council; or

(b)orally at that meeting.

(3) Members may not nominate themselves.

(4) At that meeting, if the number of members nominated does not exceed the number of vacancies, the members nominated shall be declared by the Registrar as the members provisionally appointed as members of the Education Committee (and the nominations process for any remaining vacancies shall be repeated for the next meeting of the General Council).

(5) If the number of members nominated exceeds the number of vacancies, at that meeting the Registrar shall conduct a ballot, and each member of the General Council—

(a)shall have a number of votes equal to the number of vacancies;

(b)may vote for themselves; and

(c)shall not vote more than once for the same member.

(6) At that meeting, the Registrar shall rank the candidates in order of the number of votes received, highest placed first, and declare as provisionally appointed as members of the Education Committee the candidates whose number in the ranking is equal to or higher than the number of vacancies.

(7) In the event of a tie between two or more candidates for a place in the ranking that would give rise to a provisional appointment, a further ballot shall be held in respect of that place, and the members nominated for the purposes of that ballot (which is to be held at the same meeting) shall be the candidates whose votes were tied.

(8) Any person declared to be provisionally appointed in accordance with this rule, shall be duly appointed as a member of the Education Committee if that appointment is ratified by a resolution of the General Council at the meeting at which the person was declared provisionally appointed.

(9) In the event of a failure by the General Council to ratify a provisional appointment, the Registrar shall repeat the process described in paragraphs (2) to (7) both before and at the next meeting of the General Council.

Chair and deputy chair of the Education Committee

4.—(1) The General Council shall appoint as the chair of the Education Committee an ordinary member of the Committee—

(a)who is a member of the General Council; and

(b)whom the General Council elects to be the Committee’s chair.

(2) The term of office of the chair shall be determined by the General Council on appointment, but it shall be for a period that is no longer than the period between the chair’s date of appointment as chair and the date on which the chair’s term of office as a member of the Education Committee is due to expire (regardless of whether or not they are thereafter reappointed as a member).

(3) The member of the Education Committee serving as its chair shall cease to be its chair—

(a)if that person ceases to be a member of the Education Committee;

(b)if that person resigns as its chair, which that person may do at any time by a notice in writing to the General Council;

(c)if that person’s membership of the General Council is suspended by the Privy Council or provisionally suspended by the General Council; or

(d)if the General Council votes (and that person may not participate in the vote) to terminate that person’s appointment as chair.

(4) The General Council shall nominate a member of the Education Committee who is also a member of the General Council to deputise for the chair (“the deputy chair”) if the chair is unable to perform the duties of the chair for any reason.

(5) A person serving as deputy chair of the Education Committee shall cease to be its deputy chair—

(a)if that person ceases to be a member of the Education Committee;

(b)if that person resigns as deputy chair, which that person may do at any time by a notice in writing to the General Council;

(c)if that person’s membership of the General Council is suspended by the Privy Council or provisionally suspended by the General Council; or

(d)if the General Council votes (and that person may not participate in the vote) to terminate that person’s appointment as deputy chair.

(6) If for any reason both the chair and the deputy chair of the Education Committee are absent from a meeting of the Committee, the members of the Committee who are present at that meeting shall nominate one of their number who is a member of the General Council to serve as chair of that meeting.

The Investigating Committee: composition, terms of office of ordinary members and quorum

5.—(1) The Investigating Committee shall consist of—

(a)3 members who are lay persons, appointed by the General Council;

(b)5 members who are registered chiropractors, appointed by the General Council; and

(c)any members the Investigating Committee co-opts, if they are approved by the General Council in accordance with rule 11 and subject to a maximum number of 5 co-opted members.

(2) No ordinary member of the Investigating Committee may also be a member of the General Council, the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee, and no co-opted member may also be a member of the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee.

(3) The terms of office of the ordinary members of the Investigating Committee shall be determined by the General Council, on appointment (or re-appointment), but no term of office shall be longer than 4 years.

(4) The quorum of the Investigating Committee shall be 5, of whom 2 must be registered chiropractors and 2 must be lay persons (one of whom may be chairing the meeting).

Chair and deputy chair of the Investigating Committee

6.—(1) The General Council shall appoint as the chair of the Investigating Committee an ordinary member of the Committee who is a lay person.

(2) The term of office of the chair shall be determined by the General Council on appointment, but it shall be for a period that is no longer than the period between the chair’s date of appointment as chair and the date on which the chair’s term of office as a member of the Investigating Committee is due to expire (regardless of whether or not they are thereafter reappointed as a member).

(3) The member of the Investigating Committee serving as its chair shall cease to be its chair—

(a)if that person ceases to be a member of the Investigating Committee;

(b)if that person resigns as its chair, which that person may do at any time by a notice in writing to the General Council;

(c)if that person’s membership of the Investigating Committee is suspended by the General Council; or

(d)if the General Council votes to terminate that person’s appointment as chair.

(4) The General Council may nominate a member of the Investigating Committee who is a lay person to deputise for the chair (“the deputy chair”) if the chair is unable to perform the duties of the chair for any reason.

(5) A person serving as deputy chair of the Investigating Committee shall cease to be its deputy chair—

(a)if that person ceases to be a member of the Investigating Committee;

(b)if that person resigns as deputy chair, which that person may do at any time by a notice in writing to the General Council;

(c)if that person’s membership of the Investigating Committee is suspended by the General Council; or

(d)if the General Council votes to terminate that person’s appointment as deputy chair.

(6) If for any reason both the chair and any deputy chair of the Investigating Committee are absent from a meeting of the Committee, the members of the Committee who are present at that meeting shall nominate one of their number to serve as chair of that meeting.

The Professional Conduct Committee: composition, terms of office of ordinary members and quorum

7.—(1) The membership of the Professional Conduct Committee shall consist of the registered chiropractors and lay persons included in the list of not more than 30 persons maintained by the General Council of persons appointed to the Committee.

(2) Members of the Professional Conduct Committee may attend only the proceedings of the Committee that they are invited to attend by the Registrar, or by a person duly authorised on the Registrar’s behalf to invite them.

(3) If the members of the Professional Conduct Committee who are attending particular proceedings propose to co-opt a member for the purposes of consideration of those proceedings, approval for the co-option must be sought in accordance with rule 11.

(4) No ordinary member of the Professional Conduct Committee may also be a member of the General Council or the Investigating Committee, and no co-opted member may also be a member of the Investigating Committee.

(5) The terms of office of the ordinary members of the Professional Conduct Committee shall be determined by the General Council, on appointment (or re-appointment), but no term of office shall be longer than 4 years.

(6) The panel of ordinary members and any co-opted members attending particular proceedings of the Professional Conduct Committee may perform any functions of the Committee that are relevant to those proceedings.

(7) The quorum for the Professional Conduct Committee (that is, for panels of members as mentioned in paragraph (6)) shall be 3, of which at least one must be—

(a)a registered chiropractor;

(b)a lay person (who may or may not be the person chairing the meeting);

(c)the person chairing the meeting (who may also be the one necessary lay person, mentioned in sub-paragraph (b)), who must be a person appointed in accordance with rule 8(1).

(8) If the Registrar so directs, this rule does not apply in relation to proceedings, or particular stages of proceedings, before the Professional Conduct Committee on 8th February 2009.

Chairing of the Professional Conduct Committee

8.—(1) The General Council shall appoint, from amongst the lay persons who are members of the Professional Conduct Committee, persons to chair proceedings of the Committee (“panel chairs”).

(2) Of those persons, the General Council shall designate one panel chair of the Professional Conduct Committee to act as the chair of the Committee.

(3) If the Registrar or the person duly authorised on the Registrar’s behalf (“the inviter”) does not invite the chair to attend particular proceedings of the Professional Conduct Committee—

(a)the inviter must invite another panel chair to those proceedings; and

(b)that panel chair shall chair the proceedings in place of the chair of the Committee.

(4) A person serving as chair or panel chair of the Professional Conduct Committee shall cease office—

(a)if that person ceases to be a member of the Professional Conduct Committee;

(b)if that person resigns as chair or panel chair (or both), which the person may do at any time by a notice in writing to the General Council;

(c)if that person’s membership of the Professional Conduct Committee is suspended by the General Council; or

(d)if the General Council votes to terminate that person’s appointment as chair or panel chair (or both).

(5) If the Registrar so directs, this rule does not apply in relation to proceedings, or particular stages of proceedings, before the Professional Conduct Committee on 8th February 2009.

The Health Committee: composition, terms of office of ordinary members and quorum

9.—(1) The membership of the Health Committee shall consist of the registered chiropractors and lay persons included in the list of not more than 30 persons maintained by the General Council of persons appointed to the Committee.

(2) Members of the Health Committee may attend only the proceedings of the Committee that they are invited to attend by the Registrar, or by a person duly authorised on the Registrar’s behalf to invite them.

(3) If the members of the Health Committee who are attending particular proceedings propose to co-opt a member for the purposes of consideration of those proceedings, approval for the co-option must be sought in accordance with rule 11.

(4) No ordinary member of the Health Committee may also be a member of the General Council or the Investigating Committee, and no co-opted member may also be a member of the Investigating Committee.

(5) The terms of office of the ordinary members of the Health Committee shall be determined by the General Council, on appointment (or re-appointment), but no term of office shall be longer than 4 years.

(6) The panel of ordinary members and any co-opted members attending particular proceedings of the Health Committee may perform any functions of the Committee that are relevant to those proceedings.

(7) The quorum for the Health Committee (that is, for panels of members as mentioned in paragraph (6)) shall be 3, of which at least one must be—

(a)a registered chiropractor;

(b)a lay person (who may or may not be the person chairing the meeting);

(c)the person chairing the meeting (who may also be the one necessary lay person, mentioned in sub-paragraph (b)), who must be a person appointed in accordance with rule 10(1).

(8) If the Registrar so directs, this rule does not apply in relation to proceedings, or particular stages of proceedings, before the Health Committee on 8th February 2009.

Chairing of the Health Committee

10.—(1) The General Council shall appoint, from amongst the lay persons who are members of the Health Committee, persons to chair proceedings of the Committee (“panel chairs”).

(2) Of those persons, the General Council shall designate one panel chair of the Health Committee to act as the chair of the Committee.

(3) If the Registrar or the person duly authorised on the Registrar’s behalf (“the inviter”) does not invite the chair to attend particular proceedings of the Health Committee—

(a)the inviter must invite another panel chair to those proceedings; and

(b)that panel chair shall chair the proceedings in place of the chair of the Committee.

(4) A person serving as chair or panel chair of the Health Committee shall cease office—

(a)if that person ceases to be a member of the Health Committee;

(b)if that person resigns as chair or panel chair (or both), which the person may do at any time by a notice in writing to the General Council;

(c)if that person’s membership of the Health Committee is suspended by the General Council; or

(d)if the General Council votes to terminate that person’s appointment as chair or panel chair (or both).

(5) If the Registrar so directs, this rule does not apply in relation to proceedings, or particular stages of proceedings, before the Health Committee on 8th February 2009.