Welsh Language Standards (No 4) Regulations 2016

General Osteopathic Council response to consultation

1. The General Osteopathic Council

The General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) regulates the practice of osteopathy in the four countries of the United Kingdom. We have one office, in London, and 25 FTE staff.

By law osteopaths must be registered with the GOsC in order to practise in the UK and we keep the Register of all those permitted to practise osteopathy in the UK.

We work with the public and osteopathic profession to promote patient safety by:  registering qualified professionals  helping patients with any concerns or complaints about an osteopath – we can and do remove from the Register any osteopaths who are unfit to practise  setting, maintaining and developing standards of osteopathic practice and conduct  assuring the quality of osteopathic education and ensuring that osteopaths undertake continuing professional development

The GOsC is funded solely by registrants’ fees; as of 3 October 2016 there were 5,125 osteopaths on the Register, of whom 139 had a registered address in Wales.

2. Inclusion in Welsh Language Standards (No 4) Regulations 2016

We are concerned that our retrospective inclusion (with the other health and social care regulators) in standards that have already been consulted on and have come into force, limits the opportunity to influence the process and may lead to inappropriate standards being introduced for our organisation.

Our inclusion is on the grounds that the health and social care regulators share similar characteristics to those organisations already subject to the No 4 regulations, because the majority of them are tribunals that hold hearings. However, only one of those organisations (the Education Workforce Council) is a regulator with similar functions to the General Osteopathic Council in terms of registering practitioners, maintaining a

1 register, setting and maintaining standards of practice and conduct, and investigating complaints and holding fitness to practise hearings. Other organisations in this category are tribunals that resolve disputes or hear appeals relating to earlier decisions, which we do not consider analogous to the General Osteopathic Council’s functions.

There are also clear differences in the funding of these organisations: the General Osteopathic Council and the other health and social care regulators are funded by registrants’ fees, whereas the tribunals are funded by the Welsh Government.

Finally, all the organisations already subject to the No 4 regulations are based in Wales and deal solely with issues in or relating directly to Wales, whereas the health and social care regulators have a UK-wide statutory remit, and only one health regulator, the General Medical Council, has an office in Wales. We recognise that the Welsh Government has accepted this and has stated that certain standards will therefore not be applicable to the UK health and social care regulators, but this only strengthens our view that the No 4 regulations are not the most appropriate for the General Osteopathic Council or the other health and social care professional regulators.

3. Response to Welsh Language Standards (No 4) Regulations 2016

The General Osteopathic Council is committed to promoting equality in our operations and services and we will do everything reasonable to provide the best possible service in Wales, and to comply with the standards applicable to us. However, it should be noted that if all the standards in the table below are applied to us, it would have a very significant negative impact on our regulatory business, over-extend our limited staff resources, constrict our primary work of ensuring public safety, and reduce the funding available for that work, all of which represent a serious business risk.

With a view to reducing the burden of regulation on registrants, in recent years the UK Government has required all health and care regulators to reduce costs and related registration fees. In response, the General Osteopathic Council has reduced osteopaths’ registration fees by 25% and cut back on operational costs where this could be managed. Therefore, it would not be viewed positively by either the UK Government or our registrants, if we were obliged to now raise registration fees to cover the costs identified in our regulatory impact assessment. These estimated costs amount to an additional £156,662 annually, along with initial set-up costs of £112,032. In the first year of complying with the new standards, therefore, we would have to find additional revenue totalling £268,694 – the equivalent of c. 10% of our total budget for the current year. These costs include an additional member of staff, as we could not comply with all these standards within our existing staff resources.

As well as being considered in relation to our overall operational budget, these figures must also be considered in relation to the scale of our operations in relation to Wales.

2 As of 3 October 2016 the General Osteopathic Council had a total of 5,125 registrants of whom only 139 (2.7%) had a registered address in Wales. Income from these registrants’ fees totals £75,380 per annum. Thus we could find ourselves expending significantly more than our income from Welsh registrants on Welsh language services, leaving aside our duties to regulate and protect the public in Wales.

The General Osteopathic Council’s response to the individual sets of standards is set out in the table below.

3 Area Standards General Osteopathic Council comments Heading Number s Service Standards relating to 1-7  We would have no difficulty complying with standards 1 delivery correspondence sent by a and 6 and most of standard 7. However, in relation to body standard 7, if we receive and respond to correspondence in Welsh there would be delay consequent on us having the original correspondence and our response translated, as we do not have a member of staff who speaks Welsh.  We could comply with standards 2, 3, 4 and 5 if they apply to correspondence with the public in Wales, but it should be noted that we do not routinely correspond with the public in any UK country, including Wales, except where they write to/email us first. Standards relating to 11-12, We would be able to include instructions in Welsh in our telephone calls made and 15, 22 automated telephone system message. However, as our received by a body staff includes no Welsh speakers, we would have to conduct all telephone conversations in English. We do not have performance indicators for telephone calls, so standard 15 is not relevant to us. Standards relating to a 24-25D We assume these standards apply only to meetings held in body holding meetings that Wales; if not, complying with these standards would be are not open to the general disproportionate and very costly. public Standards relating to 26-30 We assume these standards apply only to meetings held in meetings arranged by a Wales; if not, complying with these standards would be body that are open to the disproportionate and very costly. public

4 Standards relating to public 31-32 We do not as a rule hold public events in any country but, events organised or funded if we were to hold a public meeting in Wales, we would be by a body able to meet these standards. Standard relating to a 33 We do not as a rule conduct advertising campaigns. body’s publicity and However, if we did advertise in Wales and if we produced advertising any publicity aimed at the public in Wales, this would be produced bilingually and we would not treat the Welsh versions less favourably. Standards relating to a 34-35 We do not as a rule display material in public. However, if body displaying material in we were to host a public exhibition in Wales, we would be public able to present bilingual display materials. Standards relating to a 37-45  The cost of complying with standard 37 we estimate body producing and would total c. £73,500 annually (please see our publishing documents itemised Regulatory Impact Assessment), which is disproportionate and unaffordable.  We could meet standard 38 in relation to registration certificates for registrants in Wales who request a certificate in Welsh; we already comply with standard 39.  We already comply with standard 40b, as we publish our Osteopathic Practice Standards in Welsh and English. We could comply with 40a in terms of our Annual Report and Corporate Strategy. However, to also produce all policies and consultation papers in Welsh would represent a significant additional annual cost (see the Regulatory Impact Assessment) and also entail an initial outlay of £19,430 to translate existing policies.  Standard 41: the only rules we publish that apply to the public are our rules relating to the investigation of complaints. As these rules are UK Statutory Instruments, we think it would be inappropriate for us

5 to translate them.  We already comply with standard 42 on issues relating to Wales. It would be disproportionate for us to produce all press statements in Welsh.  Standard 43: we already meet 43a but we think 43b would be difficult to meet, as this assumes that we are aware of the expectations of people we don’t know. If we receive a request for a document in Welsh, we will have it translated.  We already meet Standard 44 and would be able to comply with standard 45. Standards relating to a 46A-46B  Standard 46: our complaints forms and our website body producing and ‘Contact us’ forms are already available in Welsh and publishing forms English.  Standard 46A: our ‘Contact us’ form is bilingual and going forward we would be able to comply with the remainder of this standard.  Standard 46B: we would be able to comply with this standard. Standards relating to legal 48-51 We would be able to comply with these standards if a proceedings witness is Welsh and wished to use the Welsh language during a fitness to practise hearing; this is already specified in our Welsh Language Scheme. To date we have had one witness from Wales participate in a hearing: they did not wish to speak Welsh at the hearing or receive documents in Welsh. Standards relating to a 52-56  Standards 52-54, 56: to fully comply with these body’s websites and on-line standards would represent a very significant challenge services in terms of staff resources and cost. As set out in the Regulatory Impact Assessment, the initial costs of compliance would be £85,340, with additional annual costs of c. £23,040. We consider these requirements

6 disproportionate: our primary purpose is to protect the public and we already offer all key information relating to public protection in Welsh on our website.  Our websites are constantly changing and being updated. Were these sites to be completely bilingual, this would double the time required to keep our sites up-to-date, and the translation costs would be prohibitive. If the updates were to be made in both languages at the same time, because we would have to wait for the content to be translated into Welsh, either our English content would not be up-to-date, or the Welsh content would be updated later than the English, treating the Welsh language less favourably than English.  Standard 55: we would be able to comply with this standard. Standards relating to a 59 If we receive a message via social media in Welsh we body’s use of social media would be able to respond in Welsh, but it would take more time than a reply in English as we would have to get the initial message and response translated into Welsh. Standards relating to 69-70 We are not certain what kind of notices these standards notices made by a body refer to. We do not display public notices, (except for notices relating to fitness to practise hearings, which are already covered by standards 48-51) so do not believe these are relevant to us. Standards relating to a 71-75 We would be able to comply with these standards for body awarding contracts tenders and contracts in relation to Wales. Standards for raising 76-77 We are already meeting these standards. awareness about Welsh language services provided by a body Standard relating to a 78 We would be able to comply with this standard.

7 body’s corporate identity Standards relating to 79-81 We do not offer education courses for the public, so these courses offered by a body do not apply to us.

Policy making Standards relating to 83-91 We routinely consider the equality and diversity considering the effects of a implications of any new policy or initiative, including body’s policy decisions on whether this would affect opportunities for people to use the Welsh language the Welsh language and on treating the Welsh language no less favourably than the English language, so we are already complying with these standards. All executive and non-executive members of the General Osteopathic Council involved in policy formulation are aware of our Welsh Language Scheme and the organisation’s responsibilities arising from this.

Operational Standards relating to a 126-128, We ensure our employees are aware of the Welsh body developing Welsh 131, language and our obligations under our existing Welsh language skills through 131A Language Scheme, and we include this information in the planning and training its induction process for new staff and non-execs. If we were workforce to have a member of staff who spoke Welsh, we would be able to provide wording to be included in email signatures about their proficiency in Welsh. We do not consider Standard 126c to be appropriate for the General Osteopathic Council as an organisation without an office in Wales and without any staff members who are Welsh speakers. We would be able to comply with standards 131 and 131A.

Record Standards relating to a 140-143, We are already complying with standards 140-143 and will keeping body keeping records 147-148 be able to comply with 147-148.

8 Supplementary A body publicising service 149 Information on our website will continue to specify how we matters/Servic delivery standards comply with Welsh Language Standards. e delivery A body publishing a 150 We will continue to have on our website a complaints complaints procedure procedure detailing how we deal with complaints about our delivery of the standards. A body publishing 151 We will continue to publish on our website information arrangements for oversight, about the oversight arrangements for complying with promotion etc. standards and promoting the services we offer in accordance with the standards. A body producing an annual 152 We will continue to produce an annual report showing how report regarding service we have complied with all the standards we are required to delivery standards comply with, including any complaints about our compliance with those standards and we would publish the report as specified in this standard, and publicise and have available on our website the current report. A body publicising the way 153 We would be able to do this. it intends to comply with service delivery standards A body providing 154 We would be able to do this. information to the Welsh Language Commissioner

Supplementary A body publicising policy 155 Information on our website will continue to specify how we matters/Policy making standards comply with Welsh Language Standards. making A body publishing a 156 We will continue to have on our website a complaints complaints procedure procedure detailing how we deal with complaints about our delivery of the standards. A body publishing 157 We will continue to publish on our website information arrangements for oversight about the oversight arrangements for complying with standards and promoting the services we offer in accordance with the standards.

9 A body producing an annual 158 We will continue to produce an annual report showing how report regarding policy we have complied with all the standards we are required to making standards comply with, including any complaints about our compliance with those standards and we would publish the report as specified in this standard, and publicise and have available on our website the current report. A body publicising the way 159 We would be able to do this. it intends to comply with policy making standards A body providing 160 We would be able to do this. information to the Welsh Language Commissioner

Supplementary A body publicising 161 Information on our website will continue to specify how we matters/ operational standards comply with Welsh Language Standards. Operational A body publishing a 162 We will continue to have on our website a complaints complaints procedure procedure detailing how we deal with complaints about our delivery of the standards. A body publishing oversight 163 We will continue to publish on our website information arrangements, promotion about the oversight arrangements for complying with etc. standards and promoting the services we offer in accordance with the standards. A body producing an annual 164 We will continue to produce an annual report showing how report regarding operational we have complied with all the standards we are required to standards comply with, including any complaints about our compliance with those standards and we would publish the report as specified in this standard, and publicise and have available on our website the current report. body publicising the way it 165 We would be able to do this. intends to comply with operational standards

10 A body providing 166 We would be able to do this. information to the Welsh Language Commissioner

Supplementary A body publicising record 167 We would be able to do this. matters/Recor keeping standards d keeping A body providing 168 We would be able to do this. information to the Welsh Language Commissioner