General Dental Council Meeting - Wednesday 5 March 2008, UK

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 21 Mar 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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This document gives a summary of the decisions taken at the Council's meeting on Wednesday 5 March. The meeting papers are available on the General Dental Council website, click here.

The next Council meeting is on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 June 2008 in the Council Chamber, 37 Wimpole Street.

Strategy and Corporate Plan

Members agreed that they would review the draft Strategy, which would incorporate the points made at this meeting, by email and that the final version would be discussed by Council at its meeting in September.

Constitution Change

Council reiterated its previous decision that its original term of office would not be extended beyond one year and asked for a progress update at the September Council meeting.

Healthcare and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments) No 2 Order: Consultation Response

Council considered the draft consultation responses and agreed the following amendments:

-- Q14: As Council had a serious concern with the proposal, the comments would be re-ordered to emphasise this point.

-- Q18: As there was a degree of ambiguity in this question, Council agreed that the reply should state that although the Council supported the idea behind the question, it should not be taken to mean that the GDC had responsibility for workforce planning and access.

-- Q19: The fact that the GDC would not be using this option did not mean that it disagreed with the principle and Council agreed that the 'agree' box would be ticked.

-- Q24: Council agreed that both lay and professional perspective from all four countries should be included within Council membership. Members also agreed that those who had a dental qualification, whether registered or not, should be unable to be lay members of Council. The final agreement was that the GDC should seek the power to appoint an independent body to handle Council member appointments.

Healthcare and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments) No 2 Order: Niall Dickson Report on Governance Arrangements

Council commented on the report but could not finalise a detailed response until the Government had published its view. Were a reply needed in between Council meetings, members agreed that the Constitution Review Working Group, taking account of this discussion, would reply on Council's behalf.

Election of President

Council agreed that the election of the President would be conducted by the Single Transferable Vote System, that the Electoral Reform Society should be invited to conduct the election and that Council would nominate two scrutineers.

Presence in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Council agreed that the GDC should establish offices initially in Scotland, then Wales and Northern Ireland. Members authorised the Finance and HR Committee to sanction up to an additional £100k were it needed for this purpose during 2008 and noted that a business case would be presented to the Finance and HR Committee.

General Dental Council (UK)
http://www.gdc-uk.org