The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7210 p198-199
10 August 2002

Society summary

Council member signs code of conduct

One of two members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Council who had chosen not to sign up to the Council’s voluntary code of conduct members has now agreed to sign, albeit under protest.

Sultan (“Sid”) Dajani has changed his mind in the light of recent Council decisions that only those who sign may chair Society committees or serve on the Adjudicating Committee, Audit Committee, Infringements Committee, Remuneration Committee or Resource Management Committee (PJ, 29 Jun, p929).

The Council made its decisions on the recommendation of the Corporate Governance Group, which believed that because committee chairmen frequently represent the Society externally they would be expected to uphold the tenets of the code of conduct and the broader principles espoused by the Nolan committee on standards on public life.

The group also believed that service on the named committees should be barred because they deal with particularly confidential and/or sensitive information or make decisions that require some assurance of the governance of the committee.

In a press release issued on 6 August, Mr Dajani says that he and Dr Gordon Appelbe had both had given assurances in agreement with the principles of the Nolan report but had chosen not to sign the code of conduct. They had done so “for the reasons we have already made public but mainly because we did not want to be penalised and undemocratically censured for truly representing the membership rather than just ‘representing to regulate’”.

Mr Dajani says that the Council decision barring him from committee service has led to a “no win” situation. He has therefore chosen to sign the code “so that the Officers have no more excuses to penalise me and I can get on with the task of what I was elected to do”.

He claims that Council members who toe the establishment line but have limited experiences have recently been appointed to committees at the expense of members who are experienced but who tend to rock the boat. He hopes that the situation will not be repeated.