This was originally a trial version of a Newsletter and is longer than regular editions might be, because it sets a number of issues in context. It gained positive feedback at the Main Group meeting at RCVS on Monday 12th December; more would we welcomed by the UKIPG Secretary.
Jane Hern has been Chairman of UKIPG for for two consecutive three-year terms, having been appointed in June 2005. She is the principal representative of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (as its Registrar / Chief Ececutive) to UKIPG. She leaves RCVS at the end of December 2011. As already indicated, we will need a new Chairman to pick up the leadership of the Group. Jane had planned to Chair her last meeting at the Main Group meeting scheduled for 12th December 2011 at RCVS, where we will have our usual meeting followed by some pre-Christmas social time). Unfortunately, Jane was unable unable to attend that meeting for health reasons. However, she is recovering well and participated in the pre-maeeting via a conference call. We wish her a speedy and complete return to good health and thank her for all she has done.
Margaret Watson has served UKIPG over the last six years, first as Chairman of the Inter Professional CPD Forum and then as Chairman of the Further and Higher Education Working Party. A Past President of her Professional Bodyand a tireless worker for its membership, Margaret was formerly an academic at Northumbria University. She has also represented UKIPG in the 'Gateways Collaborative Forum' and in 'Equally Professional'. She will cease to be the principal representative of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) from the end of 2011 and will stand down as Chairman of FE&HEWP. We thank her for all she has done for UKIPG as well as for her own profession.
John Ferguson served UKIPG in different roles over much of its life, but was most recently known for his 15 years work as International, European and CEPLIS Representative, and active participant in CEPLIS management, rising to President. John has recovered well from his surgery and is still keeping a keen interest in UKIPG.
Modernising Directive 2005/36/EC. Much of this year and last have been spent on work relating to this Directive dealing with the Recognition of Professional Qualifications. The Commission led an Evaluation Phase during 2010, seeking experience reports from Competent Authorities on the one hand, and the views of Professional Associations on the other. The former covered all 'automatic recognition' professions and a sample of 'general systems' professions. The latter work encompassed some questionnaires and two major conferences in Brussels, as well as some follow-up meetings on Annex IV and work on the 'professional card' concept. The 2011 work was centred on two consultations, a 'Public Consultation' from December 2010 to March 2011, and a 'Green Paper' from June to September. UKIPG originated both a Public Consultation Response and a Green Paper Response; it also played a major part in developing the CEPLIS response, and participated in both UK Government (BIS) and Commission stakeholder meetings, leading up to the final meeting held by the Commission on 7th November, prior to the launch of the legislative proposal. A summary of this meeting was helpfully provided by the UK National Coordinator, an additional note from the UKIPG Secretary helps to identify speakers. The legislative proposal was published in provisional form on 19th December.
The European Parliament. As the work on the Directive Modernisation has progressed, the Parliament has begun to prepare for the legislative process, leading to co-decision between itself and the Council of Ministers. The work has primarily been led by the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO), currently chaired by a UK MEP (Malcolm Harbour) with reports being prepared by Emma McClarkin MEP. As the work moves towards legislation, it seems likely that other more long-standing MEPs will take on the Rapporteur role, most probably Bernadette Vergnaud (FR). It should be noted that much of the 'push' for 'professional cards' has come from the Parliament. The Final Report to the Committee was published on 26th October, and subsequently approved as a non-binding resolution, as reported in the Press Release of 15th November.
Study of Educational Developments. In 2010, a number of European organisations, as well as other parts of the Commission (eg DG Education and Culture), had highlighted the extent of change in the European education and training systems brought about by the Bologna Process, the development of a European Qualifications Framework (EQF), Credit Transfer Systems (ECTS and EC-VET), the various Tuning Projects etc. The Report of the GHK Study was published at the end of October 2011 and was first 'aired' at the Commission's Stakeholder meeting on 7th November in Brussels. A Summary Presentation was prepared by the UKIPG Secretary for the 21st November 2011 CEPLIS General Assembly.
Single Market Forum. The view of the Commission is that escape from the current recession will require economic growth, and that this will best be assured through completion of the Single Market. To this end, an initiative known as the Single Market Act was developed, leading to the publication of 12 Goals or Actions, one of which related to the modernisation of the Directive on Recognition of Professional Qualifications. This work was discussed at the Single Market Forum in Krakow on 3/4 October, leading to the Krakow Declaration. One small aspect of the Forum was a discussion on the work of the Commission's Steering Group on Professional Cards.
Anti Money Laundering Directive. Following the Deloite Report on the working of the Anti Money Laundering Directive earlier this year, work has continued on the revision of the Directive. Within CEPLIS and CCBE, this work is being led by the Secretary of the Irish Inter Professional Association (IIPA) (John Fish), who is the best source of advice on progress.
Corporate Governance Green Paper. During 2011, the Commission issued a Green Paper entitled 'The EU Corporate Governance Framework'.
Coalition Government Policy. Initially, the Coalition Government continued with many of the previous Government's education policies and initiatives, not least because the major studies by Browne on HE Funding and Wolf on 14-19 were in mid-stream at the change of Government. The Coalition has also retained the split between DfE and BIS, which produces awkward compromises in policy and decision making in areas of overlap (especially skills funding, apprenticeships and FE). Earliest DfE initiatives were in areas of special interest to the new Secretary of State (mainly in the Schools area); in BIS, the 'Gateways Collaborative Forum' initially suffered a hiatus, although more recently the HE Minister has accepted ownership of it. The Milburn work on 'fair access' was also continued.
Skills for Sustainable Growth. The first move in the professional / vocational area was the publication by BIS (Secretary of State Vince Cable and Skills Minister John Hayes) of 'Skills for Sustainable Growth', with increased emphasis on apprenticeships; shared responsibility between government, employers and individuals, and changes to simplify the the funding system (particularly through the Skills Funding Agency). Several UKIPG member bodies responded to this consultation, which was followed by a second one entitled 'New Chances; New Challenges' in September this year.
Students at the Heart of the System. BIS had been 'trailing' a HE White Paper throughout the early months of 2011; it finally emerged as 'Students at the heart of the system' in June, with a response date of 20th September. This was well discussed within UKIPG, initially at a joint Forum meeting with QAA and HEBRG, and later and more substantially in the Further and Higher Education Working Party, which produced the UKIPG Response. This response concentrated on matters of implementation of direct relevance to the professions. The subsequent 'Technical Consultation' on a new 'fit for purpose' HE regulatory system was briefly discussed at a subsequent joint Forum with QAA on 25th October, but a response was not sent by UKIPG. The mant regulatory issues raised by this White Paper put the agenda well into the regulatory areas of the professions, and not just the domain of the education specialists.
Wolf Report. The Wolf Report by Professor Alison Wolf addressed questions about how to improve vocational education for 14-19 year olds to promote successful progression into both the labour market and higher level education and training. The report made 27 recommendations which ranged across the true value of many of the 'qualifications' on offer and the curricula which supported them, on funding, on apprenticeships, on a more flexible use of overlapping school and college provision, on work experience, and on the 'qualifications design and approval' process of Ofqual, SSCs etc. The Government response was supportive of the report's recommendations, implemented some immediately, and involved consultation on others. A DfES Presentation acquired by the UKIPG Secretary provides a useful top level summary.
Apprenticeship Frameworks. Apprenticeship frameworks in recent years have been the responsibility of SSCs; they were to develop and approve them, within guidance, to meet the needs of their sector. These were sometimes known as 'Blueprint' Frameworks. More recently (since April 2011), they became subject to statutory regulation, with a new and more complex arrangement for their design and approval. Partly, this was intended to open up the market, via the use of a web-based tool which was intended to allow virtually anyone to develop and seek approval for a new framework, provided that it was untimately SASE/SASW compliant. All of the 'language' of the older frameworks has now changed. There are now three levels of frameworks (Intermediate, Advanced and Higher), with a long-awaited recognition for the Higher level incoporating a significant HE element and so fitting the routes to Associate Professional and full Professional occupations. Qualifications are now related to QCF rather than NQF. The whole Framework must generate a specified number of Credits on QCF. There are now Guided Learning Hour (GLH) requirements for both 'on the job' and 'off the job' learning. The Skills Funding Agency (SFA - an agency of BIS) is primarily responsible for funding SASE-compliant apprenticeships, although the Young Persons Learning Agency (YPLA - an agency of DfE) also has an interest in the 16-19 elements. One day, this may be rationalised! There are some ongoing Consultations. The UKIPG Secretary has acquired a recent (Nov 2011) SFA presentation on the Funding of Apprenticeships.
Qualification Frameworks. For several years, the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) has been under development, now under the management of Ofqual, the Office of Qualifcations and Examinations Regulation. Originally intended to embrace all learning and qualifications other than HE, it is now a framework for vocational and work-related qualifcations. It has significantly changed the 'language' of qualifications design. The QCF is a system for recognising skills and qualifications. It does this by awarding 'Credit' for qualifications and units (small steps of learning). Each unit has a credit value. This value specifies the number of credits gained by learners who complete that unit. A Credit Unit has a Size (described as being an Award (small), Certificate (medium) or a Diploma (large)) as well as a Level on a 1-8 scale. A Unit is intended to represent 10 hours of notional learning time. It will take some time for these nuances to sink in. The key thing about being a QCF listed qualifcation is that it can make a programme of learning eligible for some degree of funding by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA). The SFA produces a list of QCF qualifcations confirmed for public funding. UK qualifications on the QCF, and HE qualifications on the FHEQ, can be related to the European Qualifcations Framework (EQF), which is a meta-framework against which all EU/EEA qualifcations can be mapped. This mapping is meant to be completed in 2012.
Healthcare Regulation - Enabling Excellence. Healthcare Regulation is a continuing area of activity by Governments of all persuasions, the Coalition Government sponsoring a Health and Social Care Bill and then publishing the Command Paper CM808 'Enabling Excellence.......'. This has been a continuing source of headaches for healthcare PSRBs during the year. Alongside CM 8008 was 'Analytical Strategy for the Command Paper' . In this, four of the six proposals mentioned related to the role, responsibility or funding of CHRE, which was to become a 'Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care'. It also mentioned that the Law Commission would begin a review of legislative frameworks for professional regulation in 2011, with a Consultation promised during 2012 and a Report due in the Spring of 2015. Whilst the review is directed at the health and social care professional areas, there may be some general issues in which all professions may wish to engage with the Commission. The task is currently listed in 'The Work of the Law Commission 2011 - 2015'.
Light Touch / Right Touch / Risk-based Regulation. These words appear in many contexts, usually referring back to the five principles of good regulation, namely that it should be proportionate, accountable, consistent, transparent and targeted. Needless to say, they lack clear definition, are qualitative in nature, although they really should have a quantitative basis. Risk-based design and operation is used in many areas of public policy, because one can rarely be absolutely sure of anything - the best we can hope to do is to take active measures to achieve a very low probability of failure when the cost of that failure would be very high. The process is a combination of actuarial science and an understanding of the first principles of the area or project being regulated. Making 'risk-based decisions' without statistically significant, valid and reliable data is really only guesswork. Thus the challenge is how to respond to the same words when they appear, as they do currently, in 'Enabling Excellence....' and in the current work on 'A New - Fit for Purpose - Regulatory Framework for the HE Sector'. The case can be extended further to the work of PSRBs in areas such as course accreditation and monitoring of registrants CPD etc. This topic was discussed at the joint Forum between QAA, UKIPG and HEBRG in October. Following that, some contributions were made available from the General Social Care Council and from the Actuarial Profession. This topic featured in the 12th December UKIPG Main Group meeting in UKIPG.P16.11 and reported UKIPG.M4.11 (these documents being available to UKIPG full members after log-in).
Oversight Regulators. A trend over recent years has been the emergence of 'oversight regulators', one being the CHRE mentioned previously, and the others being the Professional Oversight Board (POB) of the Financial Reporting Council and the Legal Services Board. The POB undertook some desktop research across these three to compare systems. They shared their comparative tables with the UKIPG Secretary. Later, at a meeting, they admitted that their primary interest was in how well CPD compliance was being monitored. In parallel with this work is the move to divide single organisations into a regulator separated from the rest of the professional body function, eg with the split of the RPSGB and the formation of the new GPhC.
Codes of Conduct. A regularly reported theme at Professional Regulation Working Party meetings is revision of Codes of Conduct. Sometimes this is internally stimulated; at other times it is a compliance measure (eg in accounting to ensure compliance with the IFAC code). In some cases, it is appropriate to vary the monitoring of compliance based on an assessment of risk, whether of the probability of a failure occurring and on the the potential seriousness of the consequences. As a background to this, there was the CEPLIS-developed 'Common Values of the Liberal Professions in Europe', which were developed in response to the 'Quality of Service' provisions of the Services Directive (Directive 123/2006/EC).
Monitoring of CPD for Regulatory Purposes. Another theme which has become regularly discussed in PRWP (and not just in the CPD Forum) is the monitoring of CPD compliance, possibly a reflection of the interest shown by POB (among others). Few have moved on to full monitoring, with most relying on sampling and self-certification. However, the sampling is becoming more statistically significant and the self-certification more formal. In most cases to date, diciplinary action has been limited to those who simply refuse to comply rather than those who have not got round to it. Moreover, revalidation is on the horizon in some health professions.
Occupational Regulation Review. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) published in October 'A Review of Occupational Regulation and its Impact' - Evidence Report No 40 produced for UKCES by NIESR.
Board Appraisal. Board appraisal received quite an 'airing' in September 2008 when the CGGp heard a presentation by Geoffrey Shepheard of ICSA. However, the Group returned to the topic on 16th May 2011, this time with a presentation from the Institute of Directors (written up in the Minutes of that meeting and on the web-site after log-in for UKIPG full members).
Appointments and Role Training. In parallel with the interest on Board Appraisal, there has been equal interest in how members of Boards, Committees and Panels are selected, appointed and trained for their roles, to enable them to operate effectively both as individuals and as a team. As with appraisal, the key to success is leadership and example by the Chairman. Again, these discussions are written up in minutes available on the CGGp web-pages.
Electronic or Hard Copy Papers. There is now a steady trend towards using electronic means, rather than bundles of papers, to support Board and Committee meetings. Some members have sought this individually, some organisations have successfully 'bought out' those who initially did not want to change (eg issuing I-pads or providing a financial allowance).
Bribery Act 2010. The CGGp has looked at the implications for PSRBs of the Bribery Act, both for the body corporate itself, and also in terms of guidance and obligations of members / registrants in their professional work. Internally, most perceived the main risk to be at Board level. The MoJ Guidance has been widely disseminated.
Information on Expenses Payments. Some information was shared between CGGp members on policies for dealing with loss of earnings and other expenses for members (and externals) serving on boards, panels and committees.
Professions for Good. 'Professions for Good' is a public information campaign, made up of a collaboration of the representative bodies for the UK’s largest professions. P4G is working with Universities Minister David Willetts, as Chair of the Gateways to the Professions Collaborative Forum and his team at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, on a number of initiatives. The most significant has been the launch of the 'Common Best Practice Code for High Quality Internships'. [Note that Jane Hern, as UKIPG Chairman, has represnted UKIPG in the P4G Steering Group; she will now need a successor. It might most conveniently come from one of those UKIPG members which are also P4G members (namely ACCA, ICAEW, Law Soc, RIBA, RICS, Science Council)].
NFEC. NFEC is a national organisation for Heads of Departments of Engineering, Techmology etc in the FE and Skills Sector. The UKIPG Secretary has retained a long tem connection with NFEC which works to the benefit of UKIPG, providing information, links, contacts etc on FE, Skills, Apprenticeship, UTCs, Wolf Report, HE in FE, and like matters.
UK NARIC. UK NARIC is the nationally recognised centre for comparison of qualifications from across the world. It is also contracted by BIS to provide the National Contact Point for Directive 2005/36/EC and for EC-VET. NARIC is also recognised by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) as the authoritative provider of qualifications information relating to any requirements of the Points-based Migration System. UKIPG is represented in the NARIC Quality Standards Group. This is useful directly because it can prevent misunderstandings about particular professional qualifications, and indirectly because of the range of agencies (and hence contacts) represented in the QSG. QSG papers are normally uploaded to the UKIPG web-site (password protected).
Irish Inter Professional Association. The IIPA is the IPG for Ireland and also a member of CEPLIS. It is common for the UKIPG and IIPA Secretaries to assist each other, especially with English language drafts and on areas of different expertise. As a Solicitor, John Fish, the IIPA Secretary, is also active in CCBE and has led much of the recent work for the relevant professions with the Commission on the revision of the Anti Money Laundering Directive.
Scottish Regulatory Forum. Much of what has been written and discussed relates to England only; or the England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has many legal, regulatory and educational systems which are quite different. Some UK-wide PSRBs deal with Scottish systems, but in other cases Scotland has a separate set of PSRBs. For example, the GMC's remit is UK-wide but it has an Edinburgh office to deal with the Svottish Government. On the other hand, there is a quite separate Law Society, Institute of Chartered Accountants, and Social Care regulator. Several of these come together in a Scottish Regulatory Forum, a group of about eight PSRBs coordinated by the Law Society of Scotland. The primary link is via Michael Scott of the Actuarial Profession (a member of the SRF based in Edinburgh) and the UKIPG Secretary meets with them occasionally. The next meeting is scheduled for 12th January; the UKIPG Secretary has been invited and will report.
CEPLIS. CEPLIS is the Conseil European des Professions Liberales, a Brussels based organisation on the same lines as UKIPG, but comprising 'IPGs' from 10 Member States and 20 Europe-wide mono-professional organisations. Several other bodies are connected more loosely to CEPLIS. There is a formal MoU with EUROCADRES, which is a formally recognised 'Social Partner'. The UKIPG is represented on the CEPLIS Board.
Science Council. The science Council has launched two new registers, for Registered Scientist and Registered Science Technician. Further details are in the Science Council's Update.
ACCA. The ACCA is currently seeking one or two non-Council members to serve on its newly constituted Governance Design Committee, so that it might benefit from having an external perspective perspective, and from the knowledge and experience of other professional bodies and 'not for profit' organisations. The contact at ACCA is Michael Sleigh for anyone interested.
GOsC. The General Osteopathic Council is seeking to appoint a lay member to its Audit Committee. If anyone is interested or could help, please contact Jane Quinnell.
CII. The Chartered Insurance Institute is a regular publisher of 'Thinkpieces' and 'Papers in Professionalism'. Recent examples of the former include 'Insurance Reflections on Corporate Governance and Risk Management' and 'Dealing with Disputed Claims'. You can join the mailing this for these. An example of the latter is 'Discover Professionalism'.