Health Committee, 21 Jun 2005

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Official Report 120KB pdf

---

Subordinate Legislation

---

Dentists Act 1984 (Amendment) Order 2005 (draft)

Item 2 is subordinate legislation. The committee is asked to consider an instrument that is subject to the affirmative procedure and which deals with regulation of dentists by the General Dental Council. I welcome the Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care. She is accompanied by Ray Watkins, the chief dental officer, and Stephen Arthur, who is the deputy project manager for professional standards in the Department of Health.

The Subordinate Legislation Committee has commented on the instrument and that committee's report has been circulated to members. Submissions from a range of organisations that responded to the Department of Health's consultation on proposals for reform have been circulated to members, as have submissions to the Health Committee from the Scottish Consumer Council and the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care. Members might recall that the committee took evidence on the matter some time ago when the order was at the draft stage and we knew that it would be coming up.

I invite the deputy minister to make an opening statement.

Thank you. The committee will be aware that regulation of certain health professions is reserved to Westminster, including regulation of dentists and the professions that are complementary to dentistry—dental hygienists and dental therapists. The order is before the Scottish Parliament because it contains a provision to give the General Dental Council the power to specify other PCDs and the regulation of those PCDs is devolved.

The order will have the effect of allowing the GDC to strengthen its role in protecting patients and protecting good oral health and high standards of dentistry. It will modernise the GDC's fitness-to-practise procedures for dealing with misconduct and ill health among dental professionals, it will introduce new procedures to tackle poor performance and it will establish a new private complaints system and introduce compulsory indemnity for dentists and PCDs before registration. The order will safeguard patients by giving the GDC the power to extend regulations to PCDs, including dental technicians and dental nurses, and it will give such PCDs the freedom to develop new skills. It will also create a mechanism for people to appeal against refusal of registration or restoration to the register, and make changes to the GDC's governance procedures. The order will require the GDC to co-operate with other bodies that are involved in regulation and it will remove the restriction on the number of corporate bodies that may practise dentistry, which will introduce greater competition.

The United Kingdom health departments are united in their determination to improve services and to protect patients, so the order will play a vital role in helping to achieve the first-class service that we all expect. A draft of the order was the subject of extensive consultation from April to October 2004 and it attracted broad support. A small number of changes—mainly technical—have since been made to the order.

I will ask about the period of erasure, about which the explanatory memorandum almost says two different things. Its pages are not numbered, so I cannot say exactly to what page I refer, but it states:

"The consensus was that the period of erasure should be directly related to the seriousness of the case and this should be left to the GDC to set."

The next paragraph hints that the GDC will stick with five years, but it also says that

"In addition, the GDC will have the option of suspension for a shorter period should they consider erasure for five years too severe."

On one reading, the GDC will stick with five years as the minimum suspension period in order to be in line with the medical profession, but it is hinted that that could be changed. When I read the memorandum, I was confused about the procedure. I remember that even dentists thought that five years might in some cases be too long if one wanted to retain one's abilities and to keep up to standard to return to the profession.

"Erasure" and "suspension" are different penalties. The minimum term of erasure will still be five years, in line with that for doctors, but the GDC has an alternative range of penalties short of erasure, including suspension or conditional registration, which might say that a dentist could not undertake a particular procedure but could continue with other dental practice. We are sticking to five years for erasure, in line with doctors, but a provision allows the GDC to impose the lesser penalty of suspension.

Thank you.

Motion moved,

That the Health Committee recommends that the draft Dentists Act 1984 (Amendment) Order 2005 be approved.—[Rhona Brankin.]

Motion agreed to.

---

Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003<br />(Consequential Provisions) Order 2005 (draft)

Agenda item 3 is on an order that is to be made under the Scotland Act 1998. The Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care notified the committee that the order was laid before the UK Parliament on Tuesday 7 June. The committee is not required to take action in relation to the draft order, but it has been brought to members' attention in recognition of the fact that they may have an interest in the policy that it covers. The deputy minister is in attendance to answer any questions. She is accompanied by Mike Murray, who is a policy manager in the Health Department, and Edythe Murie, who is from the office of the solicitor to the Scottish Executive. Members appear to have no questions to ask of the deputy minister, so I invite them to note the draft order. I thank the deputy minister and her officials for attending for items 2 and 3.

---

Contaminants in Food (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005<br />(SSI 2005/277)<br />Food (Chilli, Chilli Products, Curcuma and Palm Oil) (Emergency Control) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/294)

---

Honey (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/307)<br />Mental Health<br />(Social Circumstances Reports) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/310)

---

Regulation of Care<br />(Social Service Workers) (Scotland) Order 2005 (SSI 2005/318)<br />National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/326)

---

National Health Service<br />(Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005<br />(SSI 2005/327)<br />National Health Service (Primary Medical Services Performers Lists) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005<br />(SSI 2005/333)

---

National Health Service<br />(Service Committees and Tribunal) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/334)<br />National Health Service (Tribunal) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2005 (SSI 2005/335)

The committee is asked to consider 10 instruments that are subject to the negative procedure, as shown on the agenda. The Subordinate Legislation Committee commented on SSI 2005/277. Its report was circulated to members and no comments have been received from members. Do members agree that the committee wishes to make no recommendation on the instruments?

Members indicated agreement.