EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order makes provision with regard to the constitution of the General Pharmaceutical Council (“the Council”). The Council is to consist of 7 registrant members who are pharmacists or pharmacy technicians entered in the register established and maintained under article 19 of the Pharmacy Order 2010 (S.I.2010/231) and 7 lay members (article 2). The terms of office of the members will be determined on appointment by the Privy Council or, if directed by the Privy Council to do so, the Appointments Commission. There are limitations on the period for which members may serve on the Council (article 3). The Council is to make provision with regard to the education and training of its members in standing orders (article 4).
Certain categories of people, for example people who have been convicted of certain types of offences where the conviction is not spent, are disqualified from being members of the Council (article 5) and once members have been appointed, there are certain circumstances in which they may be removed from office (article 6). In some circumstances, a member may also be suspended from office, and there are certain provisions relating to provisional suspension by the Council itself, pending the taking effect of a decision by the Privy Council (or, in its place, the Appointments Commission) to suspend or remove that member (article 7).
There are also provisions relating to the appointment of a chair of the Council (article 8), who is to be appointed by the Privy Council or, if directed to do so by the Privy Council, the Appointments Commission. The chair of the Council will cease to be chair if that person is suspended as a member of the Council or loses a vote of no confidence. There are provisions relating to the deputising arrangements for the chair, and the Council will have powers to appoint a deputy chair to serve during the absence of a chair that is likely to be for more than one month or one meeting, or the position of chair is vacant (article 9). The Order also provides for the appointment of the first Chief Executive Officer of the Council to be made by the Privy Council (article 10).
There are also provisions relating to the proceedings of the Council. Its quorum is 8 and there are special provisions to prevent the Council’s proceedings being invalidated by matters such as a vacancy or a defect in the appointment of a member (articles 11 and 12).