Management Information Pack

Marc Seale, Chief Executive & Registrar Report to Council meeting 6 July 2009

Date Ver. Dept/Cmte Doc Type Title Status Int. Aud. 2009-06-01 a INF CER CE written reports July 2009 Draft

DD: None Public RD: None

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Chief Executive’s Report to Council meeting on 6 July 2009 Contents

Department Page Chief Executive – Mr M Seale 3 Business process improvement – Mr R Dunn 4 Communications – Ms J Ladds 6 Education – Ms A Gorringe 9 Facilities management – Mr S Hall 11 Finance – Mr S Leicester 12 Fitness to practise – Ms K Johnson 14 Human resources – Ms T Haskins 16 Information technology – Mr G Gaskins 18 Partners – Ms D. Dawkins 20 Policy and standards – Mr M Guthrie 21 Registration – Mr R Houghton 24 Secretariat – Ms L Hart 26

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1. Completed meetings 1 May to 30 June 2009 NHS Education for Scotland 5 MayHouse of Lords 5 MayCharlotte Atkins MP 6 MayRNID parliamentary reception 6 MayCouncil for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence 7 MayPre-hospital Emergency Care Council 7 MayDeparment of Health Legislation Project Board 11 MayWelsh Assembly Government 12 MayNational AHP Professional Advisory Board 18 MayDHSSPS ‘Confidence in Care’ event 26 MayInstitute of Biomedical Science 27 MayDepartment of Health Modernising Scientific Careers 28 MayDepartment of Health Section 60 process meeting 8 JuneBircham Dyson Bell ‘Can you keep a secret?’ event 11 JuneAustralian Institute of Radiography 12 JuneDepartment of Health Legislation Project Board 15 JuneChartered Society of Physiotherapy/London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games

18 June

Department of Health 22 JuneBritish Chiropody & Podiatry Association 22 JuneMetaprima 23 JuneDepartment of Health 24 JuneChief Executives Steering Group 25 JuneBritish Psychological Society 29 June

2. Scheduled meetings International OT Credentialing Network 1 July National Athletic Trainers’ Association 2 July CLEAR International Congress on Professional and Occupational Regulation

2-3 July

Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence 8 July Northern Ireland Social Care Council 9 July College of Physiotherapists of Ontario 13 July Department of Health Legislation Project Board 15 July Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists 16 July Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence regulators’ forum

16 July

Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain 27 July

Chief Executive – Mr Marc Seale

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1. Human resources No changes. 2. Quality Management System (QMS) review meetings and internal audits An internal audit schedule for 2009-10 is underway. The HR partner processes have been audited. A medium scale IT project (PC Refresh) has been audited. Feedback and Customer Service has been audited again. Mapping all Facilities processes in greater detail is continuing. Mapping Communications processes in greater detail has commenced. 3. QMS process updates Risk management processes have been updated to include changes to the process of updating the Register. A combined feedback & information requests process is being developed to run across the entire organisation as a result of an earlier QMS internal audit. This include specific statutory process routes, fitness to practise where we must ensure the Fitness to Practise Department gets earliest possible site of potential new cases. A “Corrective and preventive action process sign off” process has been developed. (Process for process changes checking). A log of required changes will now be maintained.

Other information & data security work across HPC is ongoing. We are currently looking at matching requirements highlighted by CISMP as best practice. HMRC Corporate Governance have supplied information on their corporate risk management but not the actual roles required by the Poynter Review. We have made a second Freedom of Information request and are awaiting the outcome. The probable Chief Information Security Officer will be tackled at the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) meeting in June, to determine if the Poynter Review is being followed completely. The proposed risk and security roles will be evaluated as potential new best practice. 4. British Standards Institute (BSI) audit BSI audited the Fitness to Practise, and Quality Management Systems organisation and review process on 28 April 2009. No nonconformities were reported. We maintain our registration. BSI evaluated our existing ISO 9001:2000 systems to determine if upgrading to 9001:2008 was possible. Key changes are round how we use suppliers for delivery of key business services, risk management, environment and customer data. Two minor changes were made on the spot to the wording of individual sections and our management system has been recommended for approval to the ISO9001:2008 standard. A new certificate has been issued. The next audit by BSI will be on 22 October 2009. Cherise Evans attended the BSI Regional Business Forum on ISO9001 and how it can be used to improve businesses. Roy

Business process improvement – Mr Roy Dunn

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Dunn attended the BSI Regional Business Forum on Risk Management. 5. Business continuity A test of HPC’s business continuity provision took place on 22 May, with EMT members and CDT members being intercepted as they arrived. The scenario was based on environmental impact. CPSM at Park House was severely disrupted in the 1970’s by a sewerage flood in the basement. This formed the basis for the test. Systems were rapidly brought into service from the replicated servers at Star. The current disaster recovery/business continuity plan was followed, and a report on how the test worked will be provided. On the 20 May a group of Registrations and Finance Department employees visited the DR site near Uxbridge to be shown around the types of facilities offered, listen to a presentation on HPC’s cover and take part in a quiz on staying or leaving Park House under certain types of scenario. 6. Information & data management We are planning to integrate all intranet based information sources, ie, Springfield, QMS and “Intranet”. Report templates have been updated for the new financial year. Advice has been received from our legal advisors, resulting in further negotiation on terms with the preferred supplier.

7. Risk Register The next update to the Risk Register is being prepared for and will take place in the autumn.

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1. Media and campaigns Since April 2009, the Press and Public Relations Manager has continued to issue a range of press releases and news items including the appointment of the new Council and the new Chair, statutory regulation of practitioner psychologists, the launch of the CPD video and the publication of the standards of entry threshold level and the publication of the Standards of Proficiency for practitioner psychologists. She continues to write general HPC update articles for the website and a range of professional journals and writes a regular feature in the bi-monthly publication Complete Nutrition.

The Communications Officer continues to issue media alerts highlighting upcoming fitness to practise hearings to the media and has issued 12 press releases on professionals who have been struck off or suspended between April and June 2009.

Coverage continues to be monitored on a daily basis. All press releases can be viewed on the HPC website in the media and events section and the press coverage reports are uploaded to the Council extranet.

In addition to the media coverage, the Press and Public Relations Manager has continued to manage the older people campaign. The mailing of an information pack to 22,000 care home managers has now been completed. The regional media campaign has also been rolled out and coverage has been achieved across a range of local media, including the Newcastle Journal and Evening Chronicle, Sunday Sun, Edinburgh News, Llanelli Star, Wakefield Express, Radio Carmarthenshire and Scarlet FM. Coverage has also been achieved in professional journals including Podiatry Now,

Chiropody Review and the British Journal of Podiatry. We have also exhibited at a number of regional care manager conferences including one in the North East and Yorkshire Region and two in the South West Region in Cornwall and Weston-Super-Mare as well as the National Care Show. 2. Public affairs and stakeholder communications We exhibited at the Welsh Labour Party conference in Swansea. We had over 150 visits to the stand over the weekend with the First Minister, the Health Minister and the Secretary of State for Wales all making a visit. We also attended and participated in a joint fringe meeting with Help the Aged and Age Concern (Wales), the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, the College of Occupational Therapy and the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists on foot services for older people in Wales. The importance of checking registration and our older people campaign was highlighted during the discussion.

Members of the Executive met the following key stakeholders in Brussels to find out more from those in the field of health regulation about the different issues in the Europe Union. • Liz Kidd, DG SANCO, Directorate General for 'Health and

Consumers' • Ilaria Passarani, BEUC (The European Consumers'

Organisation) • John Bowis MEP (Conservative spokesman on the

Environment, Health and Food Safety in the European Parliament)

• Pamela Brumter-Coret, Thomas Wiedmann, Andras Mogyoro, DG Internal Market and Services

Communications – Mrs Jacqueline Ladds

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• Monika Kosinska and Caroline Bollars, European Public Health Alliance

• Dr. Koutroubas and Laurent Louette FEPI (European Council of Nursing Regulators)

• Elisabetta Zanon, Helena Bowden, the NHS Confederation (Brussels office)

The Chief Executive and the Public Affairs and Stakeholder Manager met the following key stakeholders in Belfast: • Joyce Cairns and Gail Anderson from the Department of

Health, Social Services and Public Safety for Northern Ireland (DHSSPSNI) with the Chief Executive

• The Chief Executive from the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC)

• The Chief Executive and the Head of Public Affairs at the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI)

Other meetings with stakeholders included: • NHS Education for Scotland (NES) meeting with the Chief

Executive, Acting Director of Policy and Standards, Director of Operations, Education Manager and the NES Chair, Chief Executive and various Directors across the organisation.

• annual meeting (with the President and Chief Executive) with the Society and College of Radiographers (SoR)

• The British Psychological Society (BPS) and General Dental Council (GDC) Communications teams.

• Various Health Hotel meetings. The Public Affairs and Stakeholder Manager has also been appointed to the Political Engagement Task Group for the Health Hotel 2009/10.

The Public Affairs and Stakeholder Manager has also participated in a number of events including: • ‘Returners to Practice’ NHS Education for Scotland event in

Aberdeen with the Acting Director of Policy and Standards, who gave a presentation.

• ‘Regulation and quality: who calls the shots’ – Kings Fund breakfast debate with Baroness Young, Chair of the Care Quality Commission.

• RNID Deaf Awareness Week and NMC parliamentary reception.

• Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) consultation with professional associations at the Kings Fund.

3. Web As well as further developing our section on ‘aspirant groups’, we have created a new section for practitioner psychologists looking to come onto the HPC Register. This section explains the process and potential routes to registration, as well as frequently asked questions including those relating to their qualifications. The new 'online information pack request' facility has gone live allowing users to order public information material via the website. As well as being a benefit to website users, it also enables us to manage resources more effectively by removing some manual processes. We also have the option to extend this facility to other publications as well as being able to out-source these mailings using the data received through the website. Our ‘health regulation worldwide’ website has been completely redesigned improving its navigation, search facility, while also

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giving it a fresh new look in line with our visual identity. It will also allow users to submit information through the site. 4. Communications support for organisational activities CPD: the programme of talks and workshops is now booked until the autumn with several extended tours of the UK planned including the South West and the Isle of Man. The CPD communications manager has completed visits to Wales, Scotland and the North East. There have now been more than 150 talks delivered to over 9,500 registrants across the UK. The CPD dvd is now available on the website. Psychotherapists and counsellors: we will continue to monitor media coverage and respond to journalist queries as required. A positioning statement has been uploaded to the website and “lines to take” have been developed for journalist queries. Any requests for interviews are considered on a case by case basis and to date we have written a letter to the Guardian (not published), a letter to the Observer (published), and undertaken interview with More4 news and Radio 4’s “You and Yours” programme. Registration renewals: we are working closely with the Registration Department to support the renewals process. To date, we have held meetings with Membership Managers for each professional body and are working closely with them to ensure their members are fully up to date with the renewal requirements. This includes mailings to relevant personnel with renewal posters and reminders and detailed information on their websites. We are also undertaking mailings to employers to remind them to encourage their employees to renew. In addition to this we have a rolling programme of articles for professional press detailing the audit requirements. Additional

information about renewals has been uploaded to the website and is linked from our home page. Practitioner psychologists: Current work to date includes the development of a welcome letter which will be sent to all those transferring from the AEP and BPS voluntary registers, a series of adverts have been developed for professional journals including HSJ, Health Director, Community Care, the web pages have been continuously updated with news and information and we are attending a series of domain-specific conferences to enable practitioner psychologists to meet us. In addition to this, we have generated a series of press releases aimed at the public and the professions announcing the opening of the Register. 5. HR update Interviews for the Press and Public Relations Manager were held in March and Ebony Gayle has been appointed to the role. We are currently recruiting a full-time Communications Officer.

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1. Approval process The Department has seven visits in June 2009 and one in August 2009. The 2008-09 academic year has seen a total of 37 visits, considering 87 programmes. Both the number of visits and the number of programmes visited is on a par with the last academic year. Month Visits Programmes to be

visited Sep-08 4 4 Oct-08 5 9 Nov-08 1 1 Dec-08 1 7 Jan-09 4 6 Feb-09 2 2 Mar-09 2 12 Apr-09 6 13 May-09 5 24 Jun-09 6 7 Jul-09 0 0 Aug-09 1 2

2. Annual monitoring process The Department is coming towards the end of the peak of its annual monitoring work. An additional annual monitoring assessment day was held in April 2009 to consider a number of late submissions. The submissions due to be received in July 2009 will be considered by correspondence. The tables below provide a summary of the submissions received to date.

Audit submissions Deadline* Number of

submissions received

Number signed off by

ETP**

Number of submissions not received

Jan-09 71 54 0 Feb-09 36 24 0 Mar-09 33 24 1 Apr-09 14 0 4

May-09 0 0 0 Jun-09 0 0 0 Jul-09 0 0 10

Aug-09 0 0 0 * = The expected submission dates from education providers are at the end of each month. ** = Includes 20 May 2009 ETP Declarations forms Deadline* Number of

submissions received

Number of submissions not

received Jan-09 65 0 Feb-09 54 0 Mar-09 42 0 Apr-09 7 6

May-09 2 2 Jun-09 1 1

3. Major change process The Department has received 218 notifications of potential major changes since the start of the academic year.

Education – Ms Abigail Gorringe

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Process Number of programmes

Referred to annual monitoring process 36 Referred to approval process 52 Retained in major change process 95 Withdrawn 19 Pending decision 16

Approximately 40% have been filtered out and directed to the approval or annual monitoring process. The table below shows the notifications referred to the full major change process. Decision Number of

programmes Sufficient evidence through documentation that SETs still met

65 (69%)

Insufficient evidence through documentation that SETs still met – visit required

6 (6%)

Pending decision 24 (25%) 4. Practitioner psychologists Over the last two months, the Department has maintained their work geared towards the practitioner psychologist part of the Register opening. Activities have included: • Contributing towards the update of the FAQs on the website; • Ongoing correspondence with the BPS to help determine the

approved programme list and future visit schedules • Work with the Education and Training Committee to agree

the approved programme list and future visit schedule and monitoring arrangements;

• Work with the BPS and IT Department to ensure receipt and transfer of data into HPC information systems;

• Introductory mailings to education providers; and • Preparing for a series of seminars for education providers. 5. Liaison with stakeholders The Department launched the new ‘Education Update’ in May 2009. It is a new initiative and intended to act as a channel of communication from the HPC to education stakeholders across the UK. The updates distil all major HPC communications with education providers to a single communication distributed at three key times during the year: May, October and January. These months have been selected to reflect the time period when education providers receive major communications from the Education, Registrations, and Policy and Standards Departments at the HPC. Members of the Department have met the following groups over the last few months; • British Psychological Society annual conference; • Scottish Core Curriculum Scoping Project; • NHS Education for Scotland; • Welsh Agency Government • Professional, Statutory & Regulatory Body Forum

(Facilitated by the Quality Assurance Agency & UK Inter-professional Group);

• Educators of Paramedics conference (Coventry & Hertfordshire Universities)

• ALPS Professional & Statutory Regulatory Bodies; and • British Psychological Society. 6. Employees Anne Shomefun left the Department in June 2009. It is anticipated that the recruitment for this vacant Education Officer position will begin in July 2009.

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1. Employees There are six permanent employees including the Facilities Manager. Services provided include reception, building maintenance, postroom, catering, health & safety, insurance and building project management. 2. 22-26 Stannary Street building project The final invoice value for Phase 1 works is still being negotiated on HPC’s behalf by Davis Langdon, cost consultants and quantity surveyors for the project. The works have commenced on-site in mid-May for Phase 2 and the steel framework of the new building is now in place. It is anticipated that they will be complete by the end of September 2009. 3. Other building works Orders have been placed to replace the external windows and doors to the kitchen of Park House and to replace the central heating boiler for the same. Work is to be carried out during the summer of 2009.

Facilities management – Mr Steven Hall

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1. General Since the last Council meeting, the Finance Department has produced the final March year end management accounts and statutory financial statements and is working on the May year- to-date management accounts. 2. Supplier payments At the end of April, 98% by value of the £532k creditor payments (April aged creditor listing) were in the 30 days or less category. 3. Fee adjustments and income receipts handling At 11 June, there was a half-day backlog in registrant direct debit cancellations and amendments against a two-day backlog target. We had no processing backlog on rejected payments/refunds against a two day backlog target and no backlog on mid-cycle lapsing of registrants. The banking of registrants’ cheques is up-to-date and there is no backlog on credit-card reconciliations against a two-day backlog target. 4. Income collection cycle Direct debit collections of registrants’ fees (cover 83% of registrants) are done by the Finance Department, with collections made two months in advance. Chiropodist collections occurred in early June. Orthoptist, paramedic and radiographer collections are scheduled for early July. Most of the income comprises renewal fees collected. 5. Funds under management At 11 June, the business reserve account balance was £0.5M, earning an interest rate of 0.065% per annum. £1.6M was invested in the NatWest Special Interest-bearing Account

(SIBA) on a rolling monthly basis, earning 0.48% per annum. £1.5M is invested in a Barclays money market account earning 1.82% for 6 months and £1M in a Lloyds TSB money market account earning 0.9% for 1 month. The investment portfolio (excluding £143k portfolio cash) at the end of April was valued at £1.5M. The investment portfolio value including cash & money market instruments was £1.64M. This compares with £1.89M at 30 April 2008. 6. Pensions In May, there were 56 active members in the Friends Provident Scheme and no active members in the Capita Flexiplan Scheme, excluding the 6 “notional” members. 7. Employee training and levels There are seven full-time permanent employees in the Department with one additional permanent post to be filled. Temporary employees are periodically hired to cover for staff on annual or sickleave and to help achieve Finance Department service level targets. 8. Sage system support and development In mid May, we were informed by Sage that BDE Group Ltd, the supplier we used to provide annual system support and development for our Sage financial system was no longer trading as a Sage business partner, due to excessive debts owing to Sage. We are in the process of appointing a replacement vendor and getting them familiar with our organisational requirements.

Finance – Mr Simon Leicester

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9. Significant financial projects/issues (next few months) • Complete the Annual Report and Statutory Accounts

process for tabling in Parliament in July, as per the timetable;

• Prepare and complete the IFRS financial statements to 31 March 2009 for audit in August;

• Commence the Fees Project 2011.

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1. Final hearings 22 final hearings took place in May 2009, 15 cases were concluded. There were 209 cases awaiting hearing at the end of May 2009. 2. Review hearings 10 review hearings took place in May 2009, 5 registrants were struck off and 3 registrants had their suspension continued. At the end of May 2009 there were 90 registrants subject to a conditions of practice or suspension order. 3. Interim orders There were 10 interim order hearings in May 2009 4. Investigating Committee At the end of May there were 280 open cases. Of those cases 64 had not yet met the standard of acceptance for allegations. 5. Health and character At the end of May there were 64 open cases 6. Protection of title At the end of May there were 67 open protection of title complaints. 7. Registration appeals There were 14 open registration appeals at the end of May 2009 8. High Court appeals There are currently 4 cases where a registrant has appealed the decision of a panel of the Conduct and Competence

Committee. We are currently awaiting a hearing date in all of those cases 9. Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) We are seeking the recovery of costs in relation to an appeal withdrawn by the CHRE 10. Court of Appeal The case of Stanley Muscat has been listed for hearing by the Court on 29 or 30 July 2009 11, Meetings Kingsley Napley - 6 weekly review meeting Reading University statistics department National Offender Management Service CHRE Sexual Boundaries seminar Suzanne Mcartney - Public Guardian Board ISA/PVG Meeting Darlington, Cross Border Session ISA/PVG Regulators Meeting Gary Lewin, The Football Association Notifiable Occupations Scheme Networking Day, Home Office Jon Dee, PKF, National Clinical Assessment Service Forum NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service. 12. Resources Alan Shilabeer joined the Department on 5 May 2009 as a Case Manager in Case Team 3. Anaru Smiler has been promoted to the newly created position of Lead Hearings Officer and took up his new position on 1 June 2009. Jameel Anwar has been promoted to the newly created position of Administrative Co-ordinator and also took up his new position on 1 June 2009. Gary Rope joined the Department from the

Fitness to practise – Ms Kelly Johnson

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Registration Department on 15 June 2009 as Team Administrator. This role is a replacement role. Cara Donald and Emily Parker join the Department in early July 2009 as Case Managers in Case Teams 1 and 2. The Department is now at full employee capacity for the 2009-10 financial year. Customer service and complaints handling training has been organised for the whole Department over the summer. We have also initiated the project to review the fitness to practise case management system We are in the middle of the tender process for transcript writer services. We hope to have concluded this process by 1 July 2009 Refresher training for existing panel members has continued. We have also undertaken training for new panel chairs.

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1. Employee resourcing Director vacancies Following a second round of interviews on 24 April and a question and answer session with EMT on 27 April 2009, Gary Butler was appointed as Director of Finance. Gary joined the HPC on 25 May 2009 and is currently receiving a handover from the outgoing Director of Finance, Simon Leicester, who leaves on 30 June 2009. Following the resignation of Rachel Tripp, the post of Director of Policy and Standards has been advertised with a closing date of 19 June 2009, and a proposed first interview date of 13 July 2009. Fitness to Practise Interviews for the new post of Administration Co-ordinator were held on 5 May 2009. Jameel Anwar, FTP Team Administrator, was appointed with effect from 1 June 2009. Gary Rope, Registration Adviser, was also a strong candidate, and was offered and has accepted the post of Team Administrator vacated by Jameel. Gary started his new role on 15June. Anaru Smiler, Hearings Officer, was appointed with effect from 1 June to the new post of Lead Hearings Officer following internal interviews held on 5 May 2009. Interviews were held for two Case Manager vacancies on 29 May 2009. One post was a new six-month fixed term vacancy to deal with the on-boarding or practitioner psychologists. The other was a permanent replacement due to a resignation. Emily Palmer will take up the fixed term post from 1 July, and Cara Donald will start in the permanent post on 6 July.

Policy Following Charlotte Urwin’s internal promotion to the post of Policy Manager, interviews were held for the resultant Policy Officer vacancy on 7 May 2009. Megan Scott was appointed and started in the role on 8 June 2009. Registrations Following interviews on 16 April for registration adviser vacancies arising from internal promotions, Emily Cattle and Jennifer Oramah joined the HPC in May. Interviews for further registration adviser vacancies arising from internal promotions and turnover were held on 9 June 2009. At the time of writing three offers of employment have been made and have been accepted verbally. Communications Interviews for the newly approved post of Communications Officer were held on 5 May 2009. Unfortunately the successful candidate declined, due to being offered a more senior post elsewhere. The post is currently being re-advertised. 2. Other HR activities Training Equality and diversity training has been arranged for 11 managers on 18 June, and around 13 employees on 26 June and 3 August. Operational work There was an unusually high volume of HR operational work and cases in April and May. This work has now levelled and the HR team have begun to address other work such as

Human resources – Ms Teresa Haskins

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analysis of training needs following annual appraisals, and analysis of exit interview and diversity data. Employee consultation arrangements Following approval by the Finance and Resources Committee and work done by HR last year around the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations, the HR Director has drafted an agreement which has been considered by EMT. The next steps are for employee representatives to be elected and trained before the agreement is finalised and a consultation group set up.

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1. Resource • There are anticipated resource levels with some weekend

work to support the desktop refresh project and the upgrade to the directory services.

2. General IT Infrastructure • A successful IT and business continuity test was completed

on 22 May 2009. The IT systems covered within the IT continuity plan were available within approximately 30 minutes of reaching the invocation site and the on-line register was ‘available’ within an hour of declaring an emergency.

• The rollout of the new desktop technology was completed successfully except for specialist PCs such as those in Finance. The replacement of the remaining PCs is being scheduled to support business cycles;

• The service desk tool has been installed and IT training session completed. The software will need to be configured to support the internal processes and to tailor the application to the HPC IT function. It is expected that the new web portal function will be available towards the end of this year for users to log service desk tickets;

• The first phase of the Network Segmentation project to separate network traffic has started with a discovery session completed by external consultancy;

• The file and print server was replaced but due to a fault that developed while under load in the production environment the service was rolled back. The server has subsequently been replaced by the hardware supplier and is being rebuilt for redeployment;

• Implementation of the upgrade to the directory services with new hardware and software upgrades has been completed successfully;

• Implementation of new enterprise backup software for backup and recovery of the core server infrastructure has been completed

3. Additional planning activities • A visit took place to the InfoSecurity conference at Earls

Court to start the research for the network and end point encryption project;

• Home working policy development is now in draft waiting for the new HR director;

• Planning for redeployment of the file and print server at Park House is taking place;

• Planning for rollout of the desktop technology refresh project for Finance and remaining specialist PCs is taking place;

• Planning for the remaining phases of the Network Segmentation project to separate network traffic for Maintainability and Security benefits is taking place;

• Planning for revisions to the backup strategy and retention policies is taking place;

• A webinar of firewall infrastructure tutorial for the online renewals application took place;

• On site account meeting with DRS the supplier of the form scanning solution: this meeting addressed support and disaster recovery services;

• Online renewals technical workshop to agree upon the technical designs for a number of raised issues: this was completed successfully with clarity to all service providers;

• Planning for implementation of new service desk tool is taking place.

Information technology – Mr Guy Gaskins

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4. Projects Registration system • Practitioner psychologists: Test data has now been received

from both the BPS and AEP for validation of the data migration strategy. The system changes are being user acceptance tested (UAT) from 8 June 2009;

• Online renewals: A new leased-line provider has been selected and a site visit has been completed with an anticipated installation date of 7 July 2009. The selection of a load testing consultancy has been completed. The application and database servers have been installed and deployed at the hosting centre and final configuration of the environment is now being undertaken.

• Hearing aid dispensers: We are following the project plan; • ISA project initiation has been completed; • FTP case management system project has started with

meetings to define the project brief.

Finance systems • PRS: Small changes and fixes were released in June.

HR system • Starters and leavers database development is complete,

awaiting release. This will now go through a further cycle of testing and validation with the new HR team;

5. Service availability • Due to a failed air-conditioning unit on 9 April 2009 the

email service and the registration service (NetRegulate) was unavailable for 2.5 hours. Once the air-conditioner was repaired and the temperature in the server room returned to normal levels the services were restored.

• Following intermittent issues with the newly deployed file and print server on 27 April 2009 the server upgrade was rolled back. The root cause has been identified as a hardware issue and a replacement server has been delivered.

• Following the reboot of the registration service during the air-conditioning failure, NetRegulate suffered a further failure on 13 May 2009. The root cause has been identified and is being planned for implementation. The issue has been resident in the infrastructure since the service was upgraded in March 2008.

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1. Recruitment The main activity for Partners this year continues: Practitioner psychologists: The third round of recruitment for the remaining Partners is now complete. Council has now approved those to whom we have made provisional offers. Training for panel members and registration assessors will be taking place in July. All in all we have recruited seventy-three persons covering one hundred and seven roles across the seven domains. CPD assessors: Interviews for the next five professions that are due to undergo CPD audit (clinical scientists, prosthetists / orthotists, speech & language therapists, occupational therapists and biomedical scientists) will be taking place at the end of June into the beginning of July 2. Training Training for CPD assessors recruited for one orthoptist and five paramedics took place in May. Refresher training is currently ongoing for Panel Members (led by the Fitness to Practise Department) and registration assessors (led by Registrations). This continued throughout May and June. 3. Appraisals These have begun for Panel Members. Currently, we are appraising during hearings running for two days and over.

Partners – Ms Deborah Dawkins

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Meetings undertaken Improving Access to Psychological Therapies 12 MayDepartment of Work and Pensions Work Psychology Conference, Glasgow

13 May

National AHP Professional Advisory Board 18 MaySkills for Health 21 MayHearing Aid Council Stakeholder event, Cardiff 21 MayDepartment of Health, Leeds 22 MayMaximising the AHP Potential Conference 27 MayBritish Association for Sport and Exercise Sciences 28 MayNHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service

28 May

University of Coventry – Student talk 2 JuneDance Movement Psychotherapists 3 JuneSociety of Homeopaths 3 JuneBritish Association of Hearing Aid Audiologists, Harrogate

4 June

GB Training 5 JuneHearing Aid Council 8 JuneRoyal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain 9 JuneProtecting Vulnerable Adults (PVGA) meeting, Glasgow

9 June

National Practice Learning Partnership 16 JuneBritish and Irish Orthoptic Society 20 JuneDepartment of Health 22 JuneMetaprima 23 JuneGuys Hospital – psychologists presentation 24 JuneBritish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy Board of Governors, Lutterworth

26 June

2. Consultations There are currently no open consultations.

3. Closed consultations Health Professions Council (Practice Committees (Constitution) and Miscellaneous Amendments) Rules 2009 This consultation closed on 13 April 2009. The Rules were agreed by the Council at its meeting in May 2009. Amendment to the Standards for Continuing Professional Development This consultation closed on 11 May 2009. The results of the consultation were agreed by the Council at its meeting in May 2009. The amended standard is now effective. Guidance on health and character This consultation closed on 30 April 2009. A good response was received, with many respondents making very detailed comments on the consultation draft which the Executive is now analysing. In order to full take account of the comments received, the results of the consultation will now be considered later than the planned timetable, at the Education and Training Committee’s September 2009 meeting and the Council’s meeting in October 2009. However, the overall deadline for publication of the final guidance in November 2009 will be unaffected. Guidance on conduct and ethics for students This consultation closed on 30 April 2009. The Council will be asked to ratify the Education and Training Committee’s decision to recommend the consultation analysis and revised guidance to the Council at its meeting on 6 July 2009. The revised guidance will be published alongside the health and character guidance in November 2009.

Policy and standards – Mr Michael Guthrie, Acting Head of Policy

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Amendments to the Registration and Fees Rules and Grandparenting criteria – practitioner psychologists This consultation closed on 8 May 2009. The Education and Training Committee and the Council agreed the consultation analysis, rules and grandparenting criteria at their meetings in May 2009. 4. Professional Liaison Groups Psychotherapists and Counsellors The Professional Liaison Group had its last meeting prior to the consultation on its recommendations in May 2009. The PLG will reconvene in November 2009 to consider the responses about the standards of proficiency and threshold level of qualification for entry to the Register. In addition to writing and presenting papers for the PLG, the Department has continued to respond to emails and letters from interested individuals and organisations and has also continued to meet with stakeholders in the field. A number of meetings / presentations are planned over the summer period. The Department is also working with a consumer advocacy organisation to explore ways in which service users of psychotherapy and counselling can be engaged in the process and their views fed into the final report considered by the Council. A consultation document based on the papers considered by the PLG and the recommendations made is due to be considered at this meeting of the Council.

5. New professions Practitioner psychologists The Department has continued to participate in the cross-department project to register practitioner psychologists. The standards of proficiency and threshold level of qualification for entry to the Register were agreed by the Council in May and June 2009. The Department has also continued to meet with stakeholders in this field to explain the proposals for regulation. Hearing aid dispensers The Department has continued to participate in the cross-department project to register hearing aid dispensers. A draft response to the Department of Health consultation on the Section 60 Order under the Health Act 1999 necessary to bring practitioner psychologists into regulation is due to be considered at this meeting of the Council. The Department has continued to meet stakeholders in the industry to discuss the regulation of hearing aid dispensers. Further work is planned to produce information about the forthcoming regulation for the Council, for internal use and for external stakeholders. Dance movement psychotherapists The Department has met the Association of Dance Movement Psychotherapy (formerly the Association of Dance Movement Therapists) to discuss draft standards of proficiency and to agree likely recommendations for regulation.

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A consultation document based on the ADMT’s previous application for regulation and subsequent discussion with them is due to be considered at this Council meeting. The consultation will be run alongside the consultation on the regulation of psychotherapists and counsellors. 6. Welsh language scheme The HPC is required to publish a Welsh language scheme under the Welsh Language Act. The Department is currently working with internal colleagues and the Welsh Language Board to prepare a scheme for consultation. Welsh language schemes have to be approved by the Welsh Language Board prior to consultation and therefore this project has been subject to delay. The Department anticipates bringing a substantive paper on this topic to a Council meeting in the near future. 7. CPD profiles The Department is currently reviewing profiles for practitioner psychologists and dietitians, and finalising profiles for radiographers. 8. Resourcing Megan Scott started at the HPC on 8 June 2009 as a Policy Officer.

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1. Operational performance a) Telephone calls The Registration Department answered 99.2% of calls within 30 seconds which exceeds our service standard of answering 80% of calls within 30 seconds. i) UK telephone calls: During the period from 1 April 2009 to 31 May 2009 the team received a total of 7,388 telephone calls which is 1,668 less than the same period two years ago and 99% of these calls were answered. ii) International telephone calls: During the period from 1 April 2009 to 31 May 2009 the team received a total of 2,100 telephone calls which is 632 less than the same period two years ago and 95% of these calls were answered. b) Application processing i) UK applications: A total of 675 new applications were received during this period and 628 individuals were registered, which is 371 less than the same period last year. Applications took less than one working day to process which is well within our service standard of processing applications within ten working days of receipt. Applications for readmission also took less than one working day to process, which is well within our service standard of processing applications within ten working days of receipt. ii) International applications: A total of 282 new international applications were received in this period and 312 individuals were registered which is 10 more than the same period last year. Applications were on average being processed within six weeks of receipt which exceeds our service standard of

processing applications within three months of receipt of all documents. c) Emails i) UK emails: The team received approximately 60 emails per day and responded to these on the day of receipt which is well within our service standard of five working days. ii) International emails: The team received approximately 20/30 emails per day and managed to respond to these on the day of receipt which compares favourably with our service standard of five working days response time. d) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) audit There were no assessment days during this period but registration assessors continued to assess profiles that required further information. 2. Resources a) Employees The Department is operating within the budgeted headcount. Chantelle Mayoss joined the team as a Team Leader. b) Partners The Department has worked with the Partners Department to recruit and train psychologist registration assessors. The team also commenced delivering a series of six refresher registration assessor training days to 136 registration assessors and also delivered training to seven newly recruited orthoptist and paramedic CPD registration assessors. The Department is currently recruiting CPD registration assessors for the next five professions that are due to be audited.

Registration – Mr Richard Houghton

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c) Registration renewals At the start of June 2009, paramedics and orthoptists were invited to renew their registration.

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1. Council members’ self-assessment The President has completed the current round of members’ performance reviews. A paper which includes feedback from the reviews has been prepared by the Secretariat and is included on the Council agenda for the current meeting. 2. October awayday

The final part of the HPC’s Code of Corporate Governance, the composition of the Committees, was agreed at the additional meeting of Council held in June. The Code (which incorporates the key documents that underpin the HPC’s decision-making processes) can now be found on the website.

This year’s awayday will be held in Belfast on 6-7 October. Details of the venue and location will be sent out over the summer and will also be made available on the members’ extranet. 3. Induction of new Members An induction for all members will be held 6-7 July. The areas to be covered are as follows: HPC’s visions and values, the role of the Council, the role of the Executive and the structure of the organisation. The induction will also include sessions with each of the members of the Executive together with a lunch to which managers who work closely with Council members have been invited. 4. New calendar The mini calendar of Council and committee meeting dates for 2009/10 has now been sent to all members of Council. Further copies are available from the Secretariat on request. 5. Annual Meeting The Annual Meeting is an opportunity for our stakeholders to come to Park House and listen to a presentation delivered by the Chair before being afforded the opportunity to ask the Chair and Chairs of Committees any questions on their work.

The HPC Annual Meeting will be held on 10 September 2009, invitations for which will be dispatched over the summer. 6. Code of Corporate Governance

7. Training for employees Members of the Secretariat team attended the following training: June – Steve Rayner attended a seminar run by the Department of Health on the Section 60 Order.

Secretariat – Miss Louise Hart