The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7258 p97
19 July 2003

Welsh Executive | Society summary

AGM asks for new Charter to give policy-making power to Welsh Executive

The annual general meeting of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Welsh Executive has carried a motion calling for a new Charter for the Society to empower its Welsh Executive to make policy for pharmaceutical and health matters in Wales. The meeting took place in Cardiff on 9 July.

Christina Lowe: current arrangements inadequate

The motion, proposed by CHRISTINA LOWE, stated: "It is the opinion of this AGM that the new charter of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society must take account of devolution, and in particular NHS (Cymru) Wales and health and social services policy of the National Assembly for Wales. The members resident in Wales require that their elected Welsh Executive should be allowed the powers to establish policy for pharmaceutical and health matters in Wales. The members resident in Wales require that these powers should be explicitly written into any new or amended charter."

Ms Lowe prefaced her presentation with assurances that the proposal was not antagonistic to the Society's Council. At issue was that the Welsh Executive was unable to make policy within current arrangements. It only responded to and represented developed Council policy. It was also able to influence the development of that policy. Devolution, and particularly potential differences in NHS pharmacy service delivery in Wales, made it important that the Welsh Executive should have its own ability to develop policy in respect of Wales. The pace of change made influencing the Society's Council cumbersome and the relevance could be lost or missed.

MARTIN KING seconded the motion.

PHIL PARRY said that, while he agreed with the direction of the motion, it was important to distinguish between the core regulatory functions of a regulatory body, which should be exercised across Britain, and the newly defined regulatory functions that should be exercised by the Welsh Executive. Where service development or Welsh Assembly policy was different or in advance of Britain the executive should make policy and respond itself until such time as the rest of the Britain caught up or policies merged.

Mr Parry pointed to the future signalled by the changes to the Welsh Office and the Secretary of State for Wales. It was important that, as devolution progressed, Council policy in Wales was presented as Welsh Executive policy. Article 6(3) of the Society's draft new Charter gave the Council the power to devolve policy making to any group or individual, including the Welsh Executive. As a result he proposed, as an amendment, that the words "with due regard to potential relevance to GB-wide issues" be added to the second and that the third sentence was unnecessary following his last point.

ROBERT GARTSIDE seconded the amendment.

COLIN RANSHAW said that he understood the issues raised by the proposal and the amendment but was concerned with the wording of both. He also expressed concern over the potential for three different sets of policies to develop within Britain. He therefore proposed a second amendment, to delete all but the first paragraph.

During discussion, concern was expressed about the need for care in drafting the wording for a new Charter, which would need to stand for some time. Care was particularly needed over the names of current bodies in Wales and the need to describe the activity of pharmacy in more general terms.

After both amendments had been voted upon and lost, the original motion was put to the meeting and was carried without dissent.

The Welsh Executive discussed the motion at its meeting on 10 July and agreed to take it forward to the Council for consideration together with constructive comments from the Welsh Executive.