The General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education, Training and Qualifications) Order 2003

Membership

1.—(1) The Board shall consist of twenty-five members, and those members shall fall into one of the following categories—

(a) members whose names are included in the register of medical practitioners maintained by the GMC under section 2 of the Medical Act (registration of medical practitioners) and who are referred to in this Schedule as “medical members”; or

(b) members who—

(i) are not and never have been registered medical practitioners, and

(ii) do not hold any qualification that is registrable under the Medical Act,

and who are referred to in this Schedule as “lay members”.

(2) The number of medical members shall exceed by at least one the number of lay members.

(3) The Scottish Ministers, the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland and the National Assembly for Wales shall each appoint one medical member and one lay member to the Board and the Secretary of State shall appoint the remaining members (together the appointors are referred to as “the appointing authorities”).

(4) The Secretary of State shall ensure that of the members he appoints—

(a) at least one member is appointed from amongst persons who have been nominated by the GMC; and

(b) at least six medical members are appointed from amongst registered medical practitioners who have been nominated by a body that appears to him to represent the medical Royal Colleges in the United Kingdom (referred to in this paragraph as “the representative body”).

(5) The Secretary of State shall, prior to appointing a member pursuant to sub-paragraph (4), make a request in writing to the GMC or the representative body (as the case may be) for a list of names of persons that the GMC or the representative body wishes to nominate, specifying in that request—

(a) the number of nominations required; and

(b) the date by which those nominations are required.

(6) The requirements in sub-paragraph (4)(a) or (b) (as the case may be) shall not apply if the GMC or the representative body fails to provide the number of nominations specified pursuant to sub-paragraph (5)(a) by the date specified pursuant to sub-paragraph (5)(b).

(7) The requirement in sub-paragraphs (4)(b) and (5) (insofar as it applies to the representative body) shall not apply if in the reasonable opinion of the Secretary of State, there is no one body that represents the medical Royal Colleges in the United Kingdom.

(8) Subject to the requirements of this paragraph, the appointing authorities shall—

(a) consult such persons as they consider appropriate before appointing any member; and

(b) appoint members from among persons who have such qualifications, interests and experience as, in the opinion of that authority, will be of value to the Board in the performance of its functions.

(9) No person shall be prevented from being appointed merely because he has previously been a member of the Board.

(10) Where a member ceases to be a member, the appointing authority that appointed him shall appoint a member to replace him.

(11) Subject to sub-paragraph (12), if the unexpired term is less than twelve months, the vacancy need not be filled if the Board consents.

(12) The vacancy must be filled if the vacancy would result in the requirement in sub-paragraph (2) not being satisfied.

(13) In this paragraph “the unexpired term” means the period beginning with the date on which the member ceases to be a member and ending with the date on which his full term of office would have expired.

(14) On a proposal from the Board or otherwise, the Secretary of State may by order vary the size or composition of the Board provided that—

(a) the number of medical members always exceeds by at least one the number of lay members; and

(b) the Scottish Ministers, the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland and the National Assembly for Wales shall always each appoint at least one medical member and one lay member to the Board.