(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order brings into force, on 9th February 2009, the new governance arrangements for the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) that are set out in the Health Care and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2008. It also brings into force, on 1st April 2009, the equivalent provisions in that Order for the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) and the General Optical Council (GOC).
The principal change is that each Council, instead of having a mix of elected and appointed members (and, in the GOC’s case, also some nominated members), will now be fully appointed, and the constitution of each Council will be set out in a separate Order of the Privy Council. The new Governance arrangements also include new annual reporting arrangements, new duties to keep registers of members private interests and new duties of co-operation with stakeholders.
In the case of the GCC and the GOsC, this Order also brings into force revised arrangements for the constitutions of their statutory committees, and new powers to make rules to allow onto their registers, for a limited period, some osteopaths or chiropractors with older qualifications that are not currently recognised.
This Order also brings into force, from 1st January 2009, a change to the definition of “medical authority” in the Opticians Act 1989(1) which takes account of the new governance arrangements for the General Medical Council that come into force on that date.