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The General Medical Council (Constitution) Order 2008 - a paper for consultation

This draft order sets out a proposed constitution for the GMC. It provides details of the composition of the council, the terms of office of council members, and criteria for the disqualification, suspension or removal of members from office.

The Health Care and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2008 was published for consultation on 22 November 2007. This put forward a range of amendments to legislation covering

  General Medical Council
  General Optical Council
  General Chiropractic Council
  General Osteopathic Council

The provisions in the draft Order included a number of changes to the constitutional arrangements of the regulatory bodies. These changes will remove the constitutional arrangements from the main legislation (such as the Medical Act 1983), and provide for the Privy Council to set out this detail in a separate "constitution" order.

The draft Health Care and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order will shortly be brought before Parliament for approval, before being submitted to the Privy Council. Subject to this approval it will be necessary for a constitution order to be prepared for each of the regulatory bodies mentioned above.

This paper considers the proposed constitution of the General Medical Council