A report of the consultation on the proposed changes to the constitution orders of the General Medical Council (GMC) and the General Dental Council (GDC) is published today. The report relates to the size of their governing councils and the appointment of their chairs.
The consultation proposed that the governing councils of these two organisations should be reduced from 24 to 8 and that their chairs should be appointed rather than elected. The aim of the changes was to make both councils more board-like and focus on strategic leadership and decision-making and to holding the executive to account.
Twenty two responses were received from a range of organisations and individuals including professional bodies, regulatory bodies, unions and educators. Further information is available in General Medical Council and General Dental Council (Constitution) (Amendment) Orders – Consultation report – August 2012 (PDF, 192K)
After consideration of the responses, it was decided to reduce the councils of the GMC and GDC to 12 (rather than eight) and to move to a system of appointed chairs. The orders making these amendments have been laid in Parliament and can be found at:
- The General Dental Council (Constitution) (Amendment) Order 2012
- The General Medical Council (Constitution) (Amendment) Order 2012
The consultation period was between 21 February 2012 and 15 May 2012. This was extended for further a two weeks, until 29th May, in order to enable the GDC’s governing council to debate the proposals at its council meeting on the 17 May before responding to the consultation.