RECOGNITION OF QUALIFICATIONS: SUPPLEMENTAL (Hansard, 7 May 1993)

§ Mr. Moss
I beg to move amendment No. 15, in page 12, line 29, at end insert— '() The General Council shall not exercise any of its functions under subsection (4) or (5) without the approval of the Privy Council.'. The purpose of the amendment is to provide that the general council can exercise its powers to impose or remove conditions on the continued recognition of a qualification, with the approval of the Privy Council. The ability to impose conditions on the continued recognition of a qualification will be one of the tools in the general council's kitbag to ensure that high standards of education are achieved and maintained.
The sort of conditions that the general council could apply will be wide and varied, for example, when a new course is getting off the ground. One of the amendments made in Committee to clause 14 gives the general council, with the approval of the Privy Council, the ability to recognise a qualification prospectively. That would be on the basis that the information available at the time to the 417 education committee and the general council was sufficient to demonstrate that when the qualification was eventually awarded, it would reach a standard of proficiency required by the general council for the safe and competent practice of osteopathy.
That was an important amendment to make, because before it was incorporated into the Bill only qualifications presented to the general council could be considered for recognition. In the case of a new course, there would have been no qualification until the first cohort of students had graduated. However, unless there were the certainty that the qualification would be recognised, it is doubtful whether anyone would enrol for the course.
Granting recognition to an as yet non-existent qualification on the basis that when it eventually came to be awarded there was likely to be evidence of it having reached the desired standard could be regarded by some as akin to signing a blank cheque. Although the general council would be able to initiate action to withdraw recognition once the qualification was awarded, that would be an extreme step taken too late to help students. The ability to impose conditions covers that middle ground. The amended provisions mean that the education committee can check that the course is developing as planned and provide it with the necessary levers to encourage the institution concerned to take remedial action if things go awry.
However, it will not be only in the case of new qualifications that the general council will be likely to want to impose conditions. Indeed, there may be general standards that the general council will wish to apply to the continued recognition of all recognised qualifications. These might include the ability of the education committee to appoint external examiners, to participate in the final clinical examinations or to require an institution to provide the education committee with, say, an annual report.
The ability to impose conditions will provide the education committee with very powerful levers to ensure that high standards of education are achieved and maintained. Failure to comply would be sufficient for the education committee and the general council to begin taking steps to withdraw recognition from the qualification.
Clause 15 requires that any conditions are to be imposed at the time that a qualification is granted recognition and for the institution concerned to be notified of their imposition as soon as possible. This, therefore, makes them part and parcel of the recognition process. Given that clause 14 provides for the recognition of a qualification to require the approval of the Privy Council, it would seem appropriate that any conditions imposed under clause 15 should similarly be subject to the Privy Council's approval. That is what the amendment will achieve. It will also place the general council's power under subsection (5) to remove conditions under the same regime.

§ Mr. Quentin Davies
The recognition of qualifications is crucial to the credibility of the register and, therefore, of the osteopathic profession. My hon. Friend mentioned a number of issues that arise in this context, including the prospective recognition of such qualifications which it 418 seems to be necessary to accommodate, for the reasons that he mentioned. However, may I ask my hon. Friend to explain the international context of the amendment.
Under freedom of establishment, would osteopaths from the continent be able to establish themselves here? Is it envisaged that the education committee would recognise continental qualifications and thereby allow those who have graduated in osteopathy in continental centres of education and who call themselves osteopaths to be part of the register in this country, whether they practise here or on the continent, and to use their presence on the register and the recognition of their qualifications by the general council as the basis for the professional credibility as osteopaths elsewhere in the European Community? This is an important dimension to the issue of recognition of qualifications which is not dealt with specifically on the face of the Bill or in my hon. Friend's amendments to the clause. It ought to be dealt with before the House allows the Bill to proceed.

§ Mr. Sackville
The Government support the amendment. The use of a recognised qualification as providing the principal means whereby practitioners are entitled to be registered is a key feature of all other health care statutory schemes. Just as entry on to the register will be the prize sought by practitioners, obtaining recognition of their qualification will be the accolade sought by education institutions. It will be a key factor in determining the reputation of the institution. It will be the principal means by which it will be able to attract students and help to ensure its future viability. Simply put, it will make or break an institution. It is therefore vital that the institutions concerned can be assured of the fairness by which the system of recognition will operate.
When my hon. Friend described the process at Second Reading, he emphasised that the requirement on the general council to secure the approval of the Privy Council before a qualification is afforded recognition would ensure that all such decisions would be impartial, but the provisions for fair play in the Bill go beyond that. Under clause 14, the general council would be required to maintain and publish a list of the recognised qualifications. That will provide an open system and will enable one institution to compare its standards with another.
Clause 14 also provides for the general council to require the education committee to publish a statement on the criteria that it will use when advising the general council on whether a qualification should be recognised. That will provide education institutions with a level playing field and ensure that they are fully aware of the standards for which they must aim.
Clause 15 would place the general council under an obligation to notify an institution of the outcome of its application to have its qualification recognised as quickly as possible. It would also require the general council to give full reasons for its decision, in cases where it decided not to grant recognition.
These assurances could, however, be weakened if the general council's ability to impose conditions on the continued recognition of a qualification remained unchecked. Institutions may be alarmed at the admittedly extreme prospect of having burdensome conditions imposed, or of their being perversely applied in cases where the general council did not want to grant 419 recognition but could find no reason for not doing so, in order to use them as the means by which to seek to withdraw recognition on the ground of failure to comply.
The amendment would remove any such anxieties. Collectively, the provisions for recognising qualifications will give the firm foundation on which the osteopath scheme will be built and will provide the necessary building blocks to ensure that, in future, osteopaths are fully trained and properly qualified to practise osteopathy. For all those reasons, the Government support the amendment.

§ Lady Olga Maitland
I support the amendment. It is vital that the general council should ensure the highest standards of training. It is important to ensure that a battleground does not develop between the general council and the institutions. I hope that the institutions will develop training programmes of such quality that by the time their students graduate, they will have achieved the rigorous standards demanded by the general council.

§ Mr. Moss
My hon. Friend the Member for Stamford and Spalding (Mr. Davies) asked about European Community regulations and laws. If he refers to page 12, he will see that subsections (10) and (11) of clause 14 deal with that matter.