The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7201 p821-822
8 June 2002

Society summary

Council member explains decision not to sign code

Sultan Dajani, a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Council, has issued a statement giving his reasons for not signing the Council code of conduct.

Mr Dajani is one of three Council members who have declined to sign the voluntary code, which was adopted by the Council in 2000. The code is based largely on the recommendations of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (the Nolan committee) and is similar to codes being adopted by the governing bodies of most professions.

The other Council members who have not signed the code are Dr Gordon Appelbe and Kirit Patel. The remaining 21 have either signed or, in the case of the two newly elected members, have undertaken to sign as Council members, having already signed as Council election candidates.

Mr Dajani's first reason for not signing the code is his opposition to "any sanction that removes accountability ... from the membership ... into the hands of the Council".

His second reason is a lack of confidence in a system in which a select group, "who are usually those I have criticised", would appoint Council members to serve on a conduct panel with power of censure. In fact, the Council has agreed in principle that alleged breaches of the code should be referred to an independent panel drawn from the lay members of the councils of other bodies regulating health professions.

Mr Dajani's third objection is that the code inhibits Council members' ability to speak freely and relay their personal views to the membership. A Council member censured for doing so could face suspension from attending Council or committee meetings and "removal of office on Council". Mr Dajani is referring here to a part of the code that incorporates the principle of the former long-standing "Guthrie statement" requiring Council members to support Council policy when speaking in public. He says that this provision "jeopardises those voices on Council who stick up for the membership against some of the decisions Council collectively takes".

Finally, Mr Dajani objects to a decision of the Council at its April meeting, made on the recommendation of the corporate governance steering group, to bar those who have not signed the code from membership of the Infringements Committee. He suggests that some Council members are trying to undermine those who are "genuinely trying to represent the membership in the ethos of the original objects of the Charter".

At its meeting next week, the Council is to consider further recommendations of the steering group regarding the code.

The code forms Section 9.1 of the Council Governance Handbook, which can be downloaded from the Council section of Society's website.