[5A(1)The General Council may make rules—U.K.
(a)authorising the giving of directions by any of—
(i)the Investigation Committee,
(ii)[a Medical Practitioners Tribunal,]
(iii)such other persons as may be specified in the rules,
requiring [an assessment of a kind referred to in sub-paragraph (1A)] to be carried out;
(b)specifying circumstances in which such an assessment may be carried out otherwise than in accordance with a direction.
[(1A)The assessments referred to in sub-paragraph (1) are—
(a)in the case of a registered person, an assessment of the standard of a person’s professional performance;
(b)in the case of a person applying under section 41, or by virtue of section 31(8) or 31A(1)(c), for his name to be restored to the register, an assessment of the standard of professional performance of which the person would be capable if the person’s name were to be restored to the register;
(c)in either case, an assessment of the person’s physical or mental health.]
(2)[An assessment carried out by virtue of this paragraph shall be carried out by an Assessment Team in accordance with rules under this paragraph; and the rules shall, in particular, provide—
(a)for the constitution and proceedings of Assessment Teams;
(b)for the procedures to be followed by such Teams in carrying out assessments; and
(c)for the procedures to be followed following the making of a report by an Assessment Team.]
[An assessment by virtue of this paragraph is to be carried out in accordance with such directions as the Registrar may give as to—
(a)whether the assessment is to be carried out by an Assessment Team or by an individual assessor;
(b)the form or content of the assessment.
(2ZA)Where the assessment is to be carried out by an Assessment Team, the Team—
(a)must include at least one fully registered person selected by the Registrar; and
(b)is otherwise to be constituted in accordance with directions given by the Registrar.
(2ZB)Where the assessment is to be carried out by an individual assessor, the assessor must be a fully registered person selected by the Registrar.
(2ZC)The General Council may make rules as to—
(a)the appointment of fully registered persons and of other persons to a list of persons eligible to be members of an Assessment Team and the appointment of fully registered persons to a list of persons eligible to be individual assessors;
(b)the procedure to be followed in carrying out an assessment by virtue of this paragraph;
(c)the procedure to be followed following the making of a report on an assessment carried out by virtue of this paragraph.
(2ZD)Where there are rules made under sub-paragraph (2ZC)(a), a person selected under sub-paragraph (2ZA) or (2ZB) must be a person who is included in the applicable list of eligible persons provided for in the rules.
(2ZE)The General Council may make rules authorising the Assessment Team which, or individual assessor who, is to carry out an assessment by virtue of this paragraph to determine the procedure to be followed in carrying out the assessment in so far as it is not provided for in rules under sub-paragraph (2ZC)(b).]
(2A)An assessment of the standard of a registered person’s professional performance may include an assessment of his professional performance at any time prior to the assessment and may include an assessment of the standard of his professional performance at the time of the assessment.
[(2B)An assessment of a person’s physical or mental health may include an assessment of the person’s physical or mental health at any time prior to the assessment and may include an assessment of the person’s physical or mental health at the time of the assessment.]
(3)Rules under this paragraph may authorise a Fitness to Practise Panel to make directions of a kind which may be made under section 35D of this Act, for the suspension of, or the attachment of conditions to a person’s registration, where the person fails to comply with reasonable requirements imposed by an Assessment Team for the purposes of carrying out an assessment of the standard of his professional performance in accordance with a direction made under rules under this paragraph.
(3A)Rules under this paragraph may provide for the Investigation Committee to give a direction to the Registrar that a case be referred, or for the Registrar to refer a case, to a Fitness to Practise Panel for the purposes of that Panel making a direction under paragraph (3) above.
(5)An appeal shall lie to the relevant court (within the meaning of section 40(5) of this Act) from any direction of a Fitness to Practise Panel given by virtue of sub-paragraph (3) above, and on an appeal under this sub-paragraph the relevant court may—
(a)quash the direction;
(b)substitute for the direction any other direction which the Panel could have made; or
(c)remit the case to the Registrar for him to refer it to a Fitness to Practise Panel to be disposed of in accordance with the court’s directions,
and the decision of the court on any appeal under this sub-paragraph shall be final.
(6)An Assessment Team, for the purposes of carrying out an assessment of the standard of a person’s professional performance—
(a)may require the production of, inspect and take copies of any records (in whatever form they are held) arising out of or relating to the person’s professional practice; and
(b)where such records are kept otherwise than in legible form, may require a copy of them to be given to the Team in legible form.
(7)A person who, without reasonable excuse, obstructs an Assessment Team in the execution of their powers under sub-paragraph (6) above shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
(8)Nothing in this paragraph shall require or permit any disclosure of information which is prohibited by or under any other enactment; but where information is held in a form in which the prohibition operates by reason of the fact that the information is capable of identifying an individual, an Assessment Team may, in exercising their powers under sub-paragraph (6) above, require that the information be put into a form in which it is not capable of identifying an individual.
(8A)In determining for the purposes of sub-paragraph (8) above whether a disclosure is not prohibited, by reason of being a disclosure of personal data which is exempt from the non-disclosure provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 by virtue of section 35(1) of that Act, it shall be assumed that the disclosure is required under this paragraph.
(9)Sub-paragraphs (6) and (7) of paragraph 1 above shall apply in relation to rules made under this paragraph as they apply in relation to rules under that paragraph.
[(10)In this paragraph a reference to the standard of a ... person’s professional performance includes the standard of the person’s knowledge of English and, in particular, whether the person has the necessary knowledge of English.
(11)But an assessment [of a person’s professional performance] carried out by virtue of this paragraph must not be limited to an assessment of whether a person has the necessary knowledge of English.
(12)Where an assessment is required to be undertaken by virtue of paragraph 5C below, that assessment [shall not be undertaken as part of an assessment carried out by virtue of this paragraph] .]
[(13)The General Council may by rules provide that an assessment of a person’s knowledge of English undertaken as part of an assessment of the person’s professional performance by virtue of this paragraph is to be undertaken in accordance with such provision as is made in rules under paragraph 5C(2) subject to such modifications as the General Council consider necessary or expedient.]]