Representative Council

Meeting format and scheduling

Over this last year the way that the Representative Council operates has been changed in two significant ways. First, there has been a trial of holding the Representative Council meetings the day before the Board of Trustees’ meetings so that the Representative Council can feed directly into the deliberation of the Trustees. This has proved very successful. The Representative Council can raise issues on the basis of the most up to date information enabling it to fulfil its function of advising the Trustees. Second, the Representative Council has been having break out sessions, not just to help clarify views on crucial topics of the moment but to think ahead in a prospective and proactive manner so as to improve long term strategic planning. Both of these changes have led to improvements in the Governance of the Society and will be continued and built upon.

Statutory Regulation

The Representative Council has been kept fully briefed regarding statutory regulation, and in turn the Trustees have been kept up to date with the views of the Representative Council. For example there has been extensive discussion on the matter of preferred titles, the Representative council strongly preferring the regulation of a single overarching title of ‘psychologist’ or ‘registered psychologist’ in addition to the regulation of the adjectival titles that relate to those Divisions that are to be drawn into regulation. The Representative Council also considered the issue of how to define who practises, so as not to draw into regulation those psychologists who do not provide services to the public in the accepted sense. Furthermore, the Representative Council has been firm in its view that all options for statutory regulation should be explored, not just the Government’s proposed option of transferring the regulatory function of the Society to the Health Professions Council (HPC). In order to ensure the involvement of the Representative Council in all matters relating to statutory regulation, I have been a member of the President’s Negotiating Group and a member of the HPC’s Professional Liaison Group on the standards of proficiency that will apply when statutory regulation is introduced.

Activities

The Representative Council has been very active in contributing to a range of society activities, including the consolidation of Tabernacle Street as the London office, and now a successful meeting venue. The Joint Working Group on the Autonomy of Subsystems has been completed and its views are being incorporated into a grass roots review of the structure of the Society. There will be a progress report on this in 2008. The Representative Council has at all times stressed the importance of identifying members’ needs and strengthening membership services, and the restructuring of the society’s office is expected to help achieve this. The Representative Council has also contributed to identifying and pursuing new income streams that will help the development of membership services. Finally, the Representative Council in relation to the main charter objection of diffusing a knowledge of psychology, has stressed the need to develop an up-to-date multi-media strategy to take psychology to as wide an audience as possible, including the general public. Options for this through a magazine supplement have already been begun and further options are to be researched and appraised.

Future

Overall, it has been a very busy but productive time for the Representative Council. Next year we will be entering a post statutory regulation era in which the Representative Council will focus even more fully on developing membership services. Many thanks to Liz Campbell for her time as Chair of the Representative Council last year and for ushering in a new way of working for the Representative Council, and the best of luck to Gerry Mulhern who will take over as Chair of Representative Council next year.