Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005

Registration in register of designated profession.

38.—(1) The registration board of a designated profession shall grant registration to any person who—

(a) complies with section 37 and with any requirement imposed on, or request made to, him or her under that section,

(b) holds an approved qualification in that profession,

(c) satisfies the board that he or she is a fit and proper person to engage in the practice of the profession,

(d) in the case of a national of a state other than the State, satisfies the board as to his or her knowledge of the language necessary for practising the profession in the State, and

(e) pays the required fee to the Council.

(2) A person holds an approved qualification in a designated profession if—

(a) the person has been awarded in the State a qualification that the registration board of that profession has, by bye-law, approved as attesting to the standard of proficiency required for registration,

(b) the person is a national of a member state who has been awarded in a member state a qualification in that profession that the State, pursuant to a directive or relevant measure, is obliged to recognise as corresponding to a qualification referred to in paragraph (a),

(c) the person is a national of a member state who has been awarded in a member state a lesser qualification specified pursuant to a directive or relevant measure and he or she meets the applicable compensatory requirements specified pursuant to the directive or that measure for the practice of that profession in the State by persons holding the lesser qualification, or

(d) the person has undergone training in the profession outside the State and he or she—

(i) has been awarded outside the State a qualification in the profession that the registration board is satisfied attests to a standard of proficiency corresponding to the standard attested to by a qualification referred to in paragraph (a), or

(ii) has, in or outside the State, undergone such additional training or acquired such experience as satisfies the registration board, following a test of competence that it may require the person to take, that he or she has the requisite standard of proficiency for registration.

(3) A registration board may register a person in more than one division of a register if the person satisfies the conditions specified in the bye-laws for registration in each division.

(4) In this section—

“compensatory requirements” means requirements relating to an adaption period of further education, training or supervision or to aptitude tests;

“directive” means a directive adopted by an institution of the European Communities or the European Union for the recognition of professional education and training;

“EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol done at Brussels on 17 March 1993;

“EEA measure” means a measure or decision taken by the Joint Committee under the EEA Agreement;

“EEA state” means a state (other than a member state of the European Union) that is a contracting party to the EEA Agreement;

“lesser qualification” means a qualification attesting to a standard of proficiency below the standard attested to by a qualification referred to in subsection (2)(a);

“member state” means a member state of the European Union and includes the following:

(a) on the State being required to implement an EEA measure having an effect corresponding to that of a directive, an EEA state;

(b) the Swiss Confederation;

“relevant measure” means—

(a) any EEA measure having an effect corresponding to that of a directive, and

(b) a measure that is in force by virtue of the Swiss Confederation Agreement;

“Swiss Confederation Agreement” means the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Free Movement of Persons, done at Luxembourg on 21 June 1999.