Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report:...

62
Annual report Annual fitness to practise report Annual accounts 2016/17

Transcript of Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report:...

Page 1: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

Annual report Annual fitness to practise report

Annual accounts

2016/17

Page 2: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the
Page 3: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

Annual report Annual fitness to practise report

Annual accounts

2016/17

Annual report and annual fitness to practise report presented to Parliament and the

Scottish Parliament pursuant to Paragraph 8 of Schedule 1 to the Pharmacy Order

2010

Annual accounts presented to Parliament and the Scottish Parliament pursuant to

Paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 to the Pharmacy Order 2010

Page 4: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

The text of this document (but not the logo and branding) may be reproduced free of charge in any

format or medium, as long as it is reproduced accurately and not in a misleading context. This

material must be acknowledged as General Pharmaceutical Council copyright and the document title

specified. If we have quoted third party material, you must get permission from the copyright holder.

If you have any questions about this document please email

[email protected] or phone our customer contact centre on 020 3713

8000.

You can also read this document on our website at www.pharmacyregulation.org/annualreport

and download it from www.official-documents.gov.uk

© General Pharmaceutical Council 2017

Page 5: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

Contents

Foreword .............................................................................................................................. 4

About us ............................................................................................................................... 6

The register .......................................................................................................................... 7

Our achievements in 2016/17 ............................................................................................ 8

Looking to the future ......................................................................................................... 18

Annual fitness to practise report ...................................................................................... 20

Our reporting requirements .............................................................................................. 24

How we govern ourselves .................................................................................................. 25

Governance statement 2016/17 ........................................................................................ 34

Financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2017 ............................................... 37

Statement of the council’s responsibilities for the preparation of financial statements ... 38

Independent auditor's report to the council members

of the General Pharmaceutical Council ........................................................................................ 39

Statement of comprehensive income for the year ending 31 March 2017 ............................. 40

Statement of financial position as at 31 March 2017 ................................................................. 41

Statement of cash flows for the year ended 31 March 2017 ..................................................... 42

Statement of changes in funds for the year ending 31 March 2017 ........................................ 43

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2017 .................................... 44

Appendix 1: General Pharmaceutical Council Accounts Determination

given by the Privy Council under the Pharmacy Order 2010 .................................................... 57

Page 6: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

4

Foreword From our chair, Nigel Clarke, and our chief executive,

Duncan Rudkin

We are expecting, and indeed already seeing,

changes of a scale and scope that will affect

every aspect of pharmacy practice. External

developments, including Brexit, will inevitably

have a significant impact on both pharmacy

regulation and the wider sector in which we

work.

These changes are leading inevitably to a future

where we will all have to work differently if we

are to meet new demands and expectations on

pharmacy from governments, commissioners of

health services, other health professionals, and

people using pharmacy services.

It can take time for the changes we make to have

an impact – which is why we must move forward

at pace with our work to help support the

delivery of safe, effective care. This includes

moving forward with our work to make sure that

pharmacy professionals have the right

knowledge, attitudes and behaviours so they are

able to respond with confidence to the future

needs of people needing care.

One way we do this is through standards that set

out what is expected of pharmacy professionals.

The most important development for us in the

past year has been the approval by our council of

new standards for pharmacy professionals.

These standards are the cornerstone of

everything we do and should be the cornerstone

of pharmacy professionals’ practice, helping to

promote professionalism and person-centred

care. Employers and superintendent pharmacists

also have a responsibility to make sure that

pharmacy professionals working in their

pharmacies can meet them.

It was crucial to get these standards right. So we

went to significant lengths to ask for the views of

individuals and organisations about the

standards and to carefully consider the feedback

we received.

In doing this we have shown that we will listen to

what people tell us, and won't shy away from

issues that are challenging, if we decide that

something needs to change to improve the care

people receive. This was shown by our decision

to consult on what we say in our standards and

supporting guidance on religion, personal values

and beliefs. The standards come into effect in

May 2017 and will influence all our future work,

including the new standards we are developing

for the initial education and training of pharmacy

professionals. This ongoing programme of work

will help to make sure that the next generation of

pharmacy professionals will develop the right

knowledge, attitudes and behaviours for their

future roles during their education and training.

In December we launched a major consultation

on draft initial education and training (IET)

standards for pharmacy technicians – the first

major overhaul of these standards for this

profession. The engagement we had with

pharmacy technicians, as well as with those who

employ and work alongside them and with

Page 7: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

5

people using their services, has been invaluable

in helping to develop the new standards.

Once they are on the register, how do we make

sure that pharmacy professionals are continuing

to meet our standards? We recognise that it is

not enough for us to set standards: we have to

provide assurance to people that they are being

met. And we know from the evidence we and

others have gathered that people using

pharmacy services expect this assurance.

That is why we have been developing a new

framework for ‘revalidation for pharmacy

professionals’, so that pharmacy professionals

can demonstrate they are meeting the standards

throughout their careers. As with all our work,

our proposals are focused on the outcomes we

want to achieve for patients and the public and

are backed up by a significant body of evidence –

including the evaluation of a pilot involving 1300

pharmacy professionals. This is a good example

of how we work closely with pharmacy

organisations and individual professionals to ‘co-

create’ our proposals. This will continue during

the consultation next year and the

implementation of the framework over the

coming years.

Looking ahead, we will need to work differently

as an organisation to fulfil the ambitious aims

and priorities outlined in our strategy and

business plan for 2017–20. We began work in

2016/17 to identify how we can work more

efficiently and effectively, so we can have a

greater impact. This included looking at how we

improve the way we use and analyse data to

deliver insights which we can use in our work

and share with others. We also started to plan a

major programme of work to transform our

services and operations. The aim of this is to

make processes better for our registrants and

other stakeholders, so we can all spend more

time on the things that make a real difference to

people using pharmacy services.

We believe that we are now well-placed to

respond to the changes and challenges ahead.

But we also know there is much more to be

done, and we will continue to work alongside our

registrants (individual professionals and owners

of pharmacies), the people using pharmacy

services, the leaders of pharmacy, other

regulators, and the wider health and care sector

to support and improve the delivery of safe,

effective care and to uphold trust in pharmacy.

Nigel Clarke

Chair

Duncan Rudkin

Chief Executive

and Registrar

Page 8: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

6

About us What we do

People receive safe, effective care and have trust

in pharmacy because of the knowledge, attitudes

and behaviours of people working in pharmacy.

We have an important part to play. We:

promote professionalism within pharmacy

assure the quality of pharmacy, including its

safety

support improvement in pharmacy

We have a number of ways in which we do this.

These include:

registering and listing publicly the pharmacy

professionals and pharmacies that provide

care to patients and the public

setting and promoting the standards

required to enter and remain on our register

receiving assurances, in a number of ways,

that pharmacy professionals and

pharmacies continue to uphold our

standards – and acting appropriately when

they do not

sharing with others what we learn through

our work

investigating concerns about the people or

pharmacies we register and taking

proportionate action to protect the public

and promote our standards

Changes to…

Our council

We recruited two new council members – one

registrant member, Elizabeth Mailey, and one lay

member, Jayne Salt. They are replacing present

council members Liz Kay and Sarah Brown who

finished their terms as council members on 31

March 2017. We’d like to thank our outgoing

members for their hard work, and welcome our

new members to their roles. You can find out

more about our council members in the ‘About

us’ section of our website.

Our staff

In February 2017, we recruited a deputy chief

executive and director of operations, Megan

Forbes. Megan will lead our operations

directorate and take forward our service

transformation programme. She is due to take

up her post in June 2017.

Our director of organisational development and

equality, diversity and inclusion, Vivienne Murch,

retired at the end of April 2017. We would like to

thank Vivienne for her hard work. Her successor,

Francesca Okosi will join us in June 2017.

Page 9: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

7

The register The register as at 31 March 2017

Anyone can find out if a pharmacist, pharmacy

technician or pharmacy is registered, by

checking information from the register on

our website. You can also see any decisions we

have made about whether pharmacy

professionals are safe to practise pharmacy, and

which pharmacists are also ‘supplementary

prescribers’ or ‘independent prescribers’.

To be able to practise in Great Britain,

pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must

satisfy us that they meet the standards for

pharmacy professionals. Only then can they join

the register. Similarly, anyone wanting to register

a pharmacy or renew that registration must also

meet our standards.

When a pharmacist or pharmacy technician

renews their registration with us each year, they

must make a declaration confirming that they

meet all our standards.

Anyone who is not registered with us, but

practises as a pharmacist or pharmacy

technician, is breaking the law and can be

prosecuted.

Registration fees In February 2017, our governing council decided that registration renewal fees for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy premises will stay at the present levels for the financial year 2017/18.

Registration renewal fees will continue to be £250 for pharmacists, £118 for pharmacy technicians and £241 for registered pharmacies.

The council approved the organisation’s budget for 2017/18 at its meeting in February and agreed as part of the budget that fee levels should remain unchanged.

We are strongly committed to reducing our operating costs and achieving further operational efficiencies, as well as avoiding significant changes in fee levels in future years for any of our registrants.

Page 10: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

8

Our achievements in 2016/17Agreeing new standards for pharmacy

professionals

We consulted on proposed new standards for

pharmacy professionals and used the feedback

we received to help us agree standards that will

promote person-centred professionalism. We

also developed guidance to support the new

standards.

Piloting and evaluating a new

revalidation framework to provide

further assurance to the public that

pharmacy professionals are meeting the

standards

Over 1300 pharmacy professionals took part in

our pilot of a new framework to provide further

assurance to the public that pharmacy

professionals are meeting the standards. We

used what we learnt from the pilot and other

research and development activities to develop

proposals on which we will consult in 2017.

Consulting on new standards for

pharmacy technician education and

training

We continued our programme of work to make

sure education and training prepares pharmacy

professionals for their roles now and in the

future. We consulted on proposed new

education standards for pharmacy technicians,

and held a discussion about the supervision of

pharmacist independent prescribers.

Providing assurance and promoting

improvement in registered pharmacies

Through our approach to regulating and

inspecting registered pharmacies, we continue to

encourage improvements in pharmacy care and

make sure appropriate action is taken when

standards are not met.

Exploring quality in pharmacy practice

and services through a series of online

workshops

We asked pharmacy professionals to share their

ideas about what quality looks like in pharmacy

practice. This was to help us create a shared

definition of the key elements of quality and

discover the range of actions that the pharmacy

sector takes to ensure high-quality services are

delivered.

Improving the way we work

We continued to make improvements in how we

carry out our day-to-day work, to help make sure

we are delivering regulation that is both efficient

and effective. We also carried out a ‘scoping’

exercise to consider what areas of our

operations could be re-designed to make

processes better for our registrants and other

stakeholders.

Integrating equality, diversity and

inclusion into the way we work

During 2016/17 we continued to build equality

and diversity into the work that we do as a

regulator, a public service provider and an

employer.

Page 11: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

9

Agreeing new standards

for pharmacy professionals

The new standards for pharmacy

professionals aim to promote

professional decision-making and

encourage pharmacy professionals to

consider how they can provide

person-centred care, whatever their

area of practice.

The standards also strengthen the emphasis on

key themes, including speaking up about

concerns and demonstrating leadership.

We consulted on the standards from April to

June 2016. During the consultation, we asked a

wide range of stakeholders, including members

of the public, employers, pharmacy professionals

and other health professionals, to consider and

discuss the proposed standards and to let us

know if they agreed with our approach.

We coordinated an extensive programme of

communications and engagement for the

consultation, including public and patient focus

groups across the three countries. Over 2,700

individuals and organisations contributed to the

consultation.

Overall the responses supported the new

standards. But feedback from this consultation

led us to conclude that the examples we gave on

personal values and beliefs under standard 1

were not compatible with person-centred care.

So, in October 2016, our council approved the

new standards subject to further consultation on

the examples for values and beliefs under

standard 1.

We held a consultation from December 2016 to

March 2017 on revised versions of these

examples and on new supporting guidance.

These are intended to reflect the broad range of

situations when a pharmacy professional’s

religion, personal values or beliefs might affect

their willingness to provide services in certain

circumstances, and give practical information to

help them make sure they make the care of the

person their priority.

We held engagement events and meetings

across Great Britain and received over 3,500

written responses to the consultation. This is the

most responses we have received to a

consultation since coming into being. Our

council, at its meeting on 6 April, considered the

feedback received about the wording of the

examples under standard 1. The council decided

to approve the wording, and agreed that the

standards could come into effect in May 2017.

They also agreed that there will be new, separate

guidance on religion, personal values and beliefs

in pharmacy practice.

Employers and superintendent pharmacists have

a responsibility (set out in the standards for

registered pharmacies) to make sure that they

create and support an environment in which the

pharmacy professionals working in their

pharmacies can meet the standards.

We have reviewed our guidance on consent, on

confidentiality, and on maintaining sexual

Page 12: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

10

boundaries to support pharmacy professionals

in meeting the new standards.

The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA)

applied for a judicial review to challenge the

legality of the council’s decision to approve new

standards for pharmacy professionals which say

that ‘The standards need to be met at all times,

not only during working hours’.

The High Court refused the judicial review

application. In the judgment, the judge

highlighted a number of important principles,

including that pharmacy professionals should be

expected to meet the standards at all times.

The standards for pharmacy professionals aim to

promote professional decision-making

Piloting and evaluating a

new revalidation

framework to provide

further assurance to the

public that pharmacy

professionals are meeting

the standards

We have published our proposals,

developed over the last few years, to

introduce a new framework to

provide further assurance to people

using pharmacy services that

pharmacists and pharmacy

technicians meet standards for safe

and effective practice throughout

their careers.

From April to December 2016, we held a pilot of

these proposals with 1300 volunteer pharmacists

and pharmacy technicians so that we could

better understand their impact. We asked pilot

participants to record four CPD entries, have a

peer discussion and provide a reflective account

(a case study relating to standard 3 of the

standards for pharmacy professionals).

Around 1 in 55 pharmacy professionals took part in our pilot

Page 13: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

11

Solutions for Public Health (an independent

evaluator) has written a report about the impact

of the pilot and the improvements we should

consider if we were to apply our proposals to

everyone on our register.

We previously used ‘continuing fitness to

practise’ to refer to this programme of work. One

comment we heard from all our stakeholders

was that the term ‘continuing fitness to practise’

was confusing. And it was too readily associated

with the processes we use to investigate and act

upon the rare instances when concerns are

raised about pharmacy professionals.

We therefore decided to use ‘revalidation for

pharmacy professionals’ as the term to describe

our proposal for what a future framework of

assurance should look like. We have spent a

considerable researching, testing, piloting and

evaluating our proposals and they have been

developed in collaboration with pharmacy

organisations and pharmacy professionals

themselves.

In 2017/18 we are consulting on our proposals

for revalidation for pharmacy professionals, so

that we can continue to develop them before

they are implemented in 2018.

Changes to CPD call and review

Our council agreed in December 2016 that going

forward, a random sample (a minimum of 2.5

per cent) of pharmacy professionals will have

their CPD records called for review on an annual

basis.

The council carefully considered all the feedback

we received through the consultation we held in

September 2016 about how we call CPD records

for review. Over 2,200 individuals and

organisations responded, and we were

encouraged by the very positive reactions to our

proposals. You can read the consultation

report on our website.

We will also extend, from one year to two, the

amount of time a registrant is exempt from

having their CPD records called after successfully

meeting CPD requirements. This is in response

to feedback from some respondents who

suggested this change to reduce the potential

burden on pharmacy professionals.

CPD remains a core professional responsibility

and we expect registrants to continue to

demonstrate their professionalism by reflecting

regularly on learning and development activities.

Pharmacy professionals will continue to be

expected to record at least nine CPD entries each

year which reflect the context and scope of their

practice, until the new revalidation framework is

finalised and comes into effect.

Page 14: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

12

Consulting on new

standards for pharmacy

technician education and

training

In December 2016 we opened a

consultation on draft standards for

the initial education and training (IET)

of pharmacy technicians. This

represents the first major overhaul of

IET standards for pharmacy

technicians.

The standards aim to both reflect what is

required now of pharmacy technicians at the

point of registration, and to prepare them for the

roles and responsibilities they may take on in the

future. This means not only supporting

pharmacy technicians’ development of

knowledge and skills, but focusing on decision-

making skills, professionalism, and the ability to

work within teams and independently.

We also asked for feedback on proposed

changes to the criteria for registration as a

pharmacy technician, including:

allowing pre-registration trainee pharmacy

technicians to be supervised by a pharmacist

or a pharmacy technician during their

training (currently they must be supervised

by a pharmacist)

removing the option that current or recently

registered pharmacists in Great Britain or

Northern Ireland are able to register as a

pharmacy technician automatically

We received over 350 responses, and gathered

feedback from a range of stakeholders including

students and pharmacy technicians working in a

range of practice settings across England, Wales

and Scotland.

Discussion on pharmacist independent

prescribers

In December 2016 we started a discussion about

the supervision of pharmacist independent

prescribers (PIPs) during their training.

In a discussion paper, we set out proposals to

allow pharmacist prescribers and other

experienced prescribers to supervise PIPs in

training. At the moment, only registered doctors

can supervise PIPs during their training.

Giving this responsibility to practising pharmacist

independent prescribers would give them the

opportunity to train the next generation and

share their experience in the workplace. You can

read the discussion paper on our website.

The new supervision requirements would also, if

approved, remove a potential barrier to

increasing the number of pharmacist

independent prescribers and reduce the

pressure on course providers and services.

The discussion paper presented evidence that

the pharmacist’s role as a prescriber is

developing rapidly and that the use of PIPs was

central to pharmacy policy in England, Scotland

and Wales.

What we heard in response to the paper will help

us develop more detailed proposals about the

supervision requirements and training standards

for pharmacist independent prescribers. We plan

to consult on these in 2017/18.

Page 15: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

13

Providing assurance and

promoting improvement in

registered pharmacies

During 2016/17 we have continued to

build on the positive evaluation of our

revised approach to regulating and

inspecting registered pharmacies,

and its ability to help pharmacies

improve.

We have done this by sharing best practice with

pharmacy professionals and taking opportunities

to collaborate with other inspection and

regulation organisations to improve the care

people receive.

Sharing what we’ve learnt from

inspections

Through a series of articles published in

Regulate, our bi-monthly registrant bulletin, we

shared examples of good practice and innovative

thinking which we gathered through our

inspections of registered pharmacies. During

2016/17 we published five articles. Each gave

background, examples, and sources of further

information on a specific topic covered by the

standards, including:

making a positive impact on people’s

experiences in pharmacy

managing medicines

risk management in pharmacy

privacy and confidentiality in

pharmacy

safeguarding children and vulnerable

adults

We plan to continue to use Regulate as a way to

share knowledge and best practice.

Action plans

During 2016/17 we continued to use action plans

to help pharmacies which were judged ‘poor’, or

‘satisfactory’ but did not meet all the standards,

to improve their services to patients and the

public.

Working together to help make sure

online services are safe and effective

During 2016/17 we worked closely with three

other regulatory bodies – the Care Quality

Commission (CQC), the General Medical Council,

and the Medicines and Healthcare Products

Regulatory Agency – to help people using online

primary care services to receive safe and

effective care.

In a joint statement from the four regulators, we

reminded providers and healthcare

professionals working for online primary care

services that they must provide safe and

effective care. We also explained that we will

• 3,647 pharmacies inspected in 2016/17

• 469 action plans agreed with pharmacies in 2016/17

• 99 per cent of these have made the necessary improvements*

*The remaining one per cent is made up of plans where actions were not yet due, or where they had long lead times

Page 16: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

14

continue to work closely together to share

intelligence if we have concerns and take action

when necessary to protect patients. We have

also been working closely with the bodies

responsible for assuring the quality of healthcare

in Scotland about this important issue.

We also worked together with the CQC on a

coordinated programme of inspections. The

CQC, which regulates online primary care

services, brought forward a programme of

inspections of service providers it considered as

potentially presenting a significant risk to

patients.

When necessary, we carried out inspections of

the pharmacies linked to the online primary care

services being inspected by the CQC. This was to

assess whether they were meeting our standards

and dealing appropriately with the issues and

risks linked with providing online services.

Exploring quality in

pharmacy practice and

services through a series of

online workshops

During the first few months of 2017,

we held two online workshops to ask

pharmacy professionals to share their

ideas about what quality looks like in

pharmacy practice.

We announced that we would be holding these

online workshops at a seminar we held in

October on ‘professionalism under pressure’. At

the seminar, we:

highlighted the present gap in

understanding about what quality looks like

in pharmacy practice, and

outlined our plans to carry out research with

both pharmacy professionals and people

using pharmacy services to build a greater

understanding in this area

Through the workshops, we wanted to start a

conversation within the pharmacy sector to

arrive at a shared definition of the key elements

of quality, and discover the range of actions that

the pharmacy sector takes to ensure high-quality

services are delivered.

The first workshop ran from 17 to 31 January

2017. During this time, 1,097 participants shared

5,587 ideas, votes and comments, and together

identified seven important elements that

contribute to delivering quality in pharmacy:

Page 17: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

15

communicating effectively with service

users

continuously improving services

designing or following standard

processes

leading effectively

maintaining, developing and using

professional knowledge and skills

speaking about concerns

working in partnership with others

We launched our second online workshop on 16

March. This was to discuss and explore with

participants what helps them, and what hinders

them, in delivering each of these elements of

quality that they identified during the first

workshop.

We have used feedback from this work when

drafting guidance on safe and effective

pharmacy teams, which we consult on in

2017/18.

We are analysing in detail all the contributions

we have received and will produce a report

summarising what we’ve heard. We will share

this report with individuals and organisations

across pharmacy and review the outcomes of

this research to consider what work we or others

may need to undertake. The findings will also

help us to decide our priorities for further

research on quality in pharmacy, including

research to build a greater understanding of the

experiences of people using pharmacy services.

Improving the way we

work

During 2016/17 we have built on our

commitment to efficiency and

effectiveness and made sure they are

an essential part of all of the work we

do.

One source of assurance of the way we perform

our regulatory functions is the review carried out

by our oversight body, the Professional

Standards Authority. In 2016/17 we achieved all

the standards of good regulation, and we plan to

sustain this performance as we head into the

2017–2020 reporting period.

We also continued to monitor our operating

costs and make efficiencies in our ways of

working. This allowed us to keep our fees at their

present levels for the 2017/18 financial year,

despite increasing pressures on our costs.

Going forward, we will be investing in a major

programme to transform how we operate our

services, using our available reserves. This

programme should deliver cost savings which

will help us to restrict fee increases in the future.

It also means preparing to make significant

changes to the way we work, to make sure we

keep pace with external developments and are

regulating in the most efficient and effective way.

In 2016 we commissioned a review of our IT

architecture, to help us with this work. The

findings from that review will start to be

implemented in 2017/18. We also began work to

improve the quality and consistency of the data

Page 18: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

16

we hold, bringing together data from across our

regulatory functions and from outside sources.

We will continue to monitor our work on

efficiency and effectiveness through our

management processes, and to report to our

council on progress.

Integrating equality,

diversity and inclusion into

the way we work

During 2016/17 we continued to build

equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

into the work we do as a health

professions regulator, a public service

provider and an employer.

As a public body the GPhC has a number of

general legal equality duties arising from the

Equality Act 2010. We want to be an exemplar in

EDI by going beyond what is required by

equalities legislation.

In order to support our aims, this year we have:

reviewed our EDI leadership and reporting

methods and re-established the EDI

leadership group in April 2016. Staff

representing all work areas across the

organisation were recruited into the group

and supported by a comprehensive

induction programme, and training in

unconscious bias awareness

embedded EDI objectives in our business

plan, which shows how we will meet our

public sector equality duty in terms of each

of the programmes of work outlined in the

plan. Our teams will carry out equality

impact assessments and produce action

plans to support any areas where there may

be opportunities, or areas for development,

in relation to EDI. The EDI leadership group

will monitor and report on progress

Page 19: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

17

developed an equality impact assessment

(EIA) toolkit, to help staff across the

organisation identify how our policies may

affect registrants, staff and stakeholders in

terms of the protected characteristics they

share. The toolkit gives guidance on each

stage of developing an equality impact

assessment

continued a programme of EDI training,

including providing unconscious bias training

to the inspection and fitness to practise

directorate.

carried out a disability self-assessment as a

first step to understanding in practical terms

what ‘good’ looks like:

– recognising where we are doing well

– obtaining objective evidence for business

improvement, and

– identifying and minimising disability-

related risks

Staff across the organisation were involved in the

assessment, which helped to raise general

awareness of the issue. They were also involved

in developing an action plan to identify our key

priorities in working towards becoming more

‘disability confident’ and meeting the disability

standard

Communicating with the Welsh-speaking

public

We are committed to making sure that Welsh-

speaking members of the public are able to

understand and get involved in our work, as set

out in our Welsh language scheme.

During 2016/17 we continued to publish key

public documents, such as our new FtP guidance

documents, our strategic plan and this annual

report, in Welsh. We will be including Welsh-

language requirements as part of a project to

decide the specification for a new website

platform in 2017/18.

Welsh-language standards

The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011

updated the legal framework covering the use of

the Welsh language in delivering public services.

The measure provides for the development of

standards of conduct relating to the Welsh

language. These will gradually replace the

existing system of Welsh language schemes. We

have, along with other healthcare regulators,

continued to engage with the Welsh Government

about the scope and extent of standards that will

apply to us.

Page 20: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

18

Looking to the futureOur strategic plan for 2017–20 says how we will

achieve our key aim of supporting and improving

the delivery of safe, effective care and upholding

trust in pharmacy, by making sure that:

the pharmacy team have the necessary

knowledge, attitudes and behaviours

registered pharmacies deliver safe,

effective care and services

pharmacy regulation is efficient and

effective

And our business plan for 2017/18 sets out our

six priorities for the next three years. These

priorities include:

1. Developing our approach to regulating

registered pharmacies to provide

assurance and encourage

improvement

We plan to further develop our regulatory

approach to improve our ability to provide

assurance that pharmacies are delivering safe,

effective care. We will be considering how to

make our inspection arrangements more flexible

and responsive, as well as making best use of the

intelligence we gather from our regulatory

functions. We will also work on sharing this

intelligence widely with stakeholders to help

bring about learning and improvement across

the sector. We will engage with our stakeholders

about these changes and how they are

implemented.

2. Promoting professionalism through

the standards for pharmacy

professionals and related guidance

The new standards for pharmacy professionals

come into effect in May 2017. We will be working

with pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to

embed the standards within their practice. To

support them in this we will be promoting the

key themes within the standards and reviewing,

updating and publishing our guidance that sits

beneath the standards. These standards and

guidance promote professionalism and support

pharmacy professionals in delivering person-

centred care. We will continue to promote

awareness of pharmacy owners’ responsibility to

support the professionalism of pharmacy staff

and enable this to flourish.

3. Providing further assurance to the

public that pharmacy professionals

are meeting the standards

We will continue to develop new arrangements

to provide further assurance that pharmacists

and pharmacy technicians meet standards for

safe and effective practice throughout their

careers. We are holding a consultation on

revalidation for pharmacy professionals, so we

can seek views from the sector and members of

the public on our proposed changes and their

impact.

Page 21: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

19

4. Setting the standards and quality

assuring the initial education and

training for pharmacists and

pharmacy technicians

Following the consultation in 2016/17, we will

continue to develop and implement new

standards for the initial education and training of

pharmacy technicians. We will also develop and

consult on new standards for the initial

education and training of pharmacists, and for

the education of pharmacist prescribers. We will

consider new ways of accrediting education

providers to make sure they meet these

standards.

5. Developing our data and insight

strategy

In 2017/18, we will take forward our plans to

develop our technological capability to deliver

insight. We will work to improve the quality and

consistency of the data that we hold, bringing

together data from across our regulatory

functions and from outside sources. We will

invest in analytical tools to help us better

understand the data that we hold.

6. Transforming our services and the way

we work

In 2017/18 we will develop a detailed plan for the

service transformation programme which will

cover more specific areas to improve services,

and begin to implement this plan.

This builds on our previous work, including the

information we gathered from the review we

carried out in 2016 of our IT architecture. We will

look to develop a range of projects which help to

transform the services and the information we

provide to our stakeholders – from employers

and other regulatory organisations, to

registrants, patients and members of the public.

We will develop a new ‘case tracker’ tool so that

we can monitor the concerns we are dealing with

more easily, starting from the point when a

concern is received, through to the decision a

panel makes. We will also develop a new online

system for registrants to record and submit their

continuing professional development (CPD)

activity.

Page 22: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

20

Annual fitness to practise report How concerns came to us in 2016/17

This year the overall number of concerns raised with us went down slightly. In 2016/17 we received

1,889 concerns, 50 fewer than in 2015/16.

What is fitness to practise? We describe fitness to practise (FtP) as a person’s suitability to be on our register without restrictions. Dealing effectively with fitness to practise concerns is at the heart of our commitment to protecting patients and the public, and maintaining public confidence in pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. If you are concerned that a pharmacist or pharmacy technician registered with us is not fit to practise, you can report your concern to us.

Page 23: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

21

How we deal with concerns

We carefully review and assess every

concern we receive. This initial review

will help us decide what should

happen next.

The review may result in a case being closed at

this point because it is not within our powers to

deal with it (it is ‘outside our jurisdiction’).

If we can deal with a case, we will start an

investigation. This will be led by an inspector or a

specialist case worker, or – if it is a complicated

case – both. Following the investigation, we may

decide to:

take no further action, because we are

satisfied that there is no case to answer

issue a letter including guidance

recommend that the evidence is

considered by an investigating committee

Many cases are closed at this point, often with

guidance which tells the pharmacy professional

involved what they must learn from the concerns

raised. We keep a copy of this letter on our

records. Only the most serious cases are

referred to either the investigating committee or

the fitness to practise committee. Both

committees are made up of both pharmacy

professionals and a ‘lay’ member of the public.

The investigating committee (IC), which meets in

private, can decide to:

take no action

agree ‘undertakings’ with a registrant

issue a warning or a ‘letter of advice’, or

refer the case to a fitness to practise

committee for a hearing

The fitness to practise committee (FtPC) is a

panel which operates independently of the

GPhC, and is usually made up of three members.

The FtPC, which usually holds hearings in public,

decides if a pharmacy professional is fit to

practise.

If it finds that they are not fit to practise, it can:

give them a warning

set conditions that limit how they can

practise

suspend or remove them from the

register

If we receive a concern where a registrant’s

behaviour or practice presents a serious

continuing risk to patient safety, or if they have a

health condition which means that they are a risk

to themselves or the public, we can apply to the

fitness to practise committee for an ‘interim

order’. Interim orders allow for a pharmacy

professional’s registration to be suspended, or

made subject to conditions, while we carry out

our investigation.

Sanctions may be imposed by a fitness to

practise committee, and can include a pharmacy

professional being suspended or removed from

the register. Sanctions are not about punishing

past conduct. Rather, they reflect the interests of

the public – either to ensure public safety, to

maintain public confidence in the profession, or

to maintain proper standards of behaviour.

You can find out more about how we deal with

fitness to practise concerns on our website.

Page 24: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

22

Outcomes of cases closed in 2016/17

Dealing with concerns in

2016/17

Despite the number of concerns we

received remaining relatively stable,

we reduced our ‘open’ caseload (the

number of cases that we are working

on at any one time).

As at 31 March 2017, we had 685 open cases, a

reduction of nine per cent compared with the

caseload in 2015/16.

We have achieved this by continuing to improve

and refine our case management process. And

we have focused on progressing cases older than

12 months through to closure, while keeping on

top of the new concerns coming in. As a result

our performance has been equal to last year’s,

and in some areas improved. For example, 83

per cent of new concerns were concluded within

seven months.

Our improving productivity has resulted in our

open caseload continuing to get younger. As of

31 March 2017, 56 per cent of our open caseload

is now between zero and six months old – a

three per cent improvement on the previous

year.

We will continue our work to make further

measurable progress in 2017/18 to resolve

concerns more quickly about the fitness to

practise of pharmacy professionals.

Occasionally, an appeal is made against the

outcome of a fitness to practise committee

decision – this is done by lodging an appeal in

court. Across the course of this year, 10 appeals

which had been brought to the High Court were

concluded. With the exception of one case, in

which the sanction of removal was substituted

Page 25: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

23

for a period of suspension by the Supreme

Court, all appeals were dismissed by the High

Court.

Although the Supreme Court substituted the

sanction of removal with one of suspension on

the specific facts of the case, it upheld our appeal

on an important point of law relating to the

sanctions available to our fitness to practise

committee.

We have also continued to bring criminal

prosecutions against people practising as a

pharmacist or pharmacy technician while not on

our register, when it has been proportionate to

do so. Practising without being registered can

cause significant risk to patients, is illegal and is

dealt with by the criminal courts. During 2016/17

we brought five criminal prosecutions, all of

which have resulted in convictions.

Having worked closely with a number of

stakeholders, in September 2016 we published

Thinking of reporting a concern to us? A guide

for employers and locum agencies. The guide

helps employers and agencies to decide how

best to manage concerns about a pharmacy

professional, and whether they need to involve

us, by explaining:

the kind of issues we need to investigate

the information we will need to gather,

and

how we make decisions about a

pharmacy professional’s fitness to

practise

We have also worked very closely with Welsh

Chief Pharmacists and the Wales Centre for

Pharmacy Professional Education to develop

learning resources about fitness to practise and

to better explain how we investigate if a

pharmacy professional’s fitness to practise is

impaired.

How do I find out about fitness to practise hearings? Fitness to practise committee hearings are usually held in public at our Pharmacy Hearings Centre and members of the public are welcome to attend.

Some fitness to practise committee hearings are held in private if, for example, there are matters involving a registrant’s health.

You can find out about upcoming hearings, and about decisions the fitness to practise committee has made on our website.

Page 26: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

24

Our reporting requirementsUnder the Pharmacy Order 2010

there are certain items we have to

report as part of demonstrating our

accountability to parliament.

We have to publish annual reports and accounts,

and provide them to the Privy Council Office for

laying in the UK and Scottish Parliaments.

We have to publish:

an annual report on how we have carried

out our work, including the arrangements

we have that make sure we follow good

practice in relation to equality and

diversity

a statistical report which shows the

efficiency and effectiveness of our

arrangements to protect members of the

public from registrants whose fitness to

practise is impaired. The report includes a

description of the arrangements and the

council’s comments on the report

annual accounts, in a form set by the

Privy Council

our external auditors’ report on our

accounts

This report is published to meet these

requirements.

The Privy Council has issued an ‘accounts

determination’, setting out what we must include

when preparing our annual accounts. The

accounts determination is in appendix 1 to our

financial statements. Our accounts have been

produced in line with this determination.

As a body funded by registrants’ fees and

independent of government, we are not covered

by the treasury guidance on managing public

money. But we want to follow best practice, both

in being transparent and in communicating with

members of the public, who are our main

stakeholders. We have therefore aimed to keep

our reporting as clear and straightforward as

possible, with the least amount of duplication.

We have provided a governance statement by

the chief executive and registrar. This covers the

systems we have to support the council’s

strategy and objectives, while safeguarding the

organisation’s assets. The statement also

includes the chief executive’s review of the

effectiveness of our systems of internal control.

Page 27: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

25

How we govern ourselvesThe council is the GPhC’s governing

body and is appointed by the Privy

Council. It sets the strategic direction

and objectives for the organisation, in

line with its statutory objectives.

It monitors the organisation’s performance, and

that of the senior leadership group. It also

safeguards the organisation’s assets and makes

sure its financial affairs are run properly.

The GPhC’s council has 14 members: seven lay

members and seven registrant members. There

is at least one member who lives or works in

each of England, Scotland and Wales. There were

no changes to the council membership during

the year. Two council members’ terms ended on

31 March 2017, and the GPhC is grateful for the

contributions made by the outgoing council

members: Sarah Brown and Liz Kay.

These vacancies were filled after a rigorous

selection process and the new appointments

have been confirmed by the Privy Council. We

were pleased to welcome, from 1 April 2017,

Elizabeth Mailey and Jayne Salt.

The council has agreed a structure of pay and

expenses for its members that is in line with the

Nolan Committee’s standards in public life. It

avoids features that would undermine good

governance.

Council development The council is committed to appraising its members’ performance, and its own performance as a governing body, every year. Council members are appraised by the chair of council each summer. The chair also receives feedback from an external consultant following a ‘360-degree’ appraisal. The council considers its own performance as a governing body each year.

Page 28: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

26

Council members’ pay and attendance

April 2016 to March 2017

This table records council members’ attendance at regular formal meetings only. Council members

do take part in other meetings and events. This has included, for example, working on assurance

groups and attending engagement events across Great Britain, working with our stakeholders.

Name Registrant or

lay member

Pay1

£

Council

meetings

attended2

Council

workshops

attended

Committee meetings

held or attended

Nigel Clarke3 Lay 48,000 9 out of 9 11 out of 11

Alan Kershaw Lay 12,000 8 out of 9 8 out of 11

Arun Midha Lay 12,000 7 out of 8 7 out of 11

Berwyn Owen Pharmacist 12,000 8 out of 9 10 out of 11

David Prince4 Lay 14,000 7 out of 9 9 out of 11 4 out of 4 (A&RC)

Digby Emson Pharmacist 12,000 7 out of 9 8 out of 11 4 out of 4 (A&RC)

Evelyn McPhail Pharmacist 12,000 9 out of 9 11 out of 11

Elizabeth Kay5 Pharmacist 14,000 8 out of 9 10 out of 11 2 out of 2 (RemC)

Joanne Kember Pharmacist 12,000 9 out of 9 11 out of 11

Mark Hammond Lay 12,000 9 out of 9 10 out of 11 2 out of 4 (A&RC)

Mary Elford Lay 12,000 8 out of 9 10 out of 11

Mohammed Hussain Pharmacist 12,000 6 out of 9 8 out of 11 2 out of 4 (A&RC)

Samantha Quaye Pharmacy

technician 12,000 8 out of 9 10 out of 11

Sarah Brown Lay 12,000 8 out of 9 11 out of 11 2 out of 2 (RemC)

Key: A&RC = audit and risk committee, RemC = remuneration committee

1 Council members’ pay is given as a gross figure. 2 The attendance figures cover both formal meetings and informal workshops of the council, and committee attendance. All council

members must take part in other events such as strategy days, stakeholder meetings, interview panels and task groups and do the

relevant preparation. They do not receive extra payment for these. 3 Chair of council 4 Includes £2,000 for chairing the audit and risk committee 5 Includes £2,000 for chairing the remuneration committee

Page 29: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

27

Council members’ expenses

April 2016 to March 2017

Expenses directly and solely related to GPhC business are paid in line with the relevant GPhC policy.

Members have received different amounts of expenses because they attended different numbers of

events outside our formal meetings and live in different parts of Great Britain. This affects the

distances they travel and whether they need accommodation.

Expenses for council members are covered by a PAYE settlement agreement with HM Revenue &

Customs.

Name Travel Accommodation Subsistence Total

Alan Kershaw 68.70 95.40 22.30 186.40

Arun Midha 1,703.50 1,038.50 229.94 2,971.94

Berwyn Owen 1,832.20 1,528.00 249.02 3,609.22

David Prince 738.78 0.00 0.00 738.78

Digby Emson 2,035.75 155.00 34.50 2,225.25

Elizabeth Kay 1,141.55 875.10 114.25 2,130.90

Evelyn McPhail 4,287.01 267.50 21.00 4,575.51

Joanne Kember 1,777.95 2,263.50 385.32 4,426.77

Mark Hammond 1,162.30 465.00 21.00 1,648.30

Mary Elford 151.50 0.00 0.00 151.50

Mohammed Hussain 1,058.35 474.95 26.04 1,559.34

Nigel Clarke 960.87 300.00 32.40 1,293.27

Samantha Quaye 154.60 0.00 20.00 174.60

Sarah Brown 199.85 0.00 0.00 199.85

Page 30: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

28

GPhC committees

Statutory committees

Under the Pharmacy Order 2010 there are three

statutory committees: investigating, fitness to

practise and appeals.

Investigating committee

This committee considers concerns about a

registrant’s fitness to practise, or a person’s

suitability to run a community pharmacy

business. The committee decides whether to

refer a concern to the fitness to practise

committee for a full hearing.

Fitness to practise committee

This committee makes decisions about whether

a registrant’s fitness to practise is impaired

because of their conduct, professional

performance or health. The committee also

makes decisions about whether a person should

be disqualified from running a community

pharmacy business.

Appeals committee

This committee considers appeals about

registration and education matters.

Non-statutory committees

The council has decided that any other, non-

statutory, committees should be kept to a

minimum to help limit bureaucracy and make

sure responsibilities are clearly defined. The

GPhC has three non-statutory committees: audit

and risk, remuneration and appointments.

Audit and risk committee

The audit and risk committee supports the

council by reviewing the GPhC's internal and

external audit arrangements. It also reviews the

arrangements for managing risks. It provides

assurance to the council that risks are being

identified and managed. This includes advising

the council on the assurances provided in

respect of risk and internal controls.

The committee is made up of four council

members including the chair, David Prince. David

stepped down from the committee on 31 March

2017 after chairing it for four years. He remains a

council member.

The committee also has an independent

member, Hilary Daniels, who also stepped down

from the committee on 31 March 2017 after

serving for six years.

We are grateful to both David and Hilary for their

commitment and contribution to the work of the

committee over the years.

Digby Emson, council member, has been

appointed as the new committee chair, and

following a successful appointment process,

Helen Dearden is the new independent member.

The audit and risk committee met four times in

the year: in May, July and October 2016, and in

Page 31: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

29

January 2017. The committee continues to focus

on risks to the GPhC’s ability to achieve its

strategic objectives. The committee has reviewed

the risk register at each meeting and its reviews

have been used as part of the council's scrutiny

of the chief executive and registrar's reports on

risk management.

The annual internal audit plan is based on the

three-year internal audit strategy agreed with

internal auditors Moore Stephens in 2014/15.

Under the strategy there is a systematic and

prioritised review of policies, procedures and

operations, and the focus of internal audit is on

higher-risk areas. The committee reviewed ten

internal audit reports, one of which was advisory:

Report Assurance rating

Business continuity and

disaster recovery

Green/amber

Core financial controls Green/amber

Interim events Amber

Transformation Advisory

European professional

card

Green/amber

Evidence room Green/amber

SharePoint review Green/amber

Integrity of the register Amber

Key performance

indicators and

management

information

Amber

Equality, diversity and

inclusion

Green/amber

Explanation of the ratings

Green: overall, there is a sound control

framework in place to achieve system

objectives, and the controls to manage the

risks audited are being consistently applied.

There may be some weaknesses but these

are relatively small or relate to achieving

higher or best practice standards.

Green-amber: generally a good control

framework is in place. However, some

minor weaknesses have been identified in

the control framework, or there are areas of

non-compliance which may put the

achievement of system or business

objectives at risk.

Amber: weaknesses have been identified in

the control framework or there is non-

compliance, and this puts the achievement

of system objectives at risk. Some remedial

action will be needed.

Amber-red: significant weaknesses have

been identified in the control framework or

there is non-compliance with controls, and

this puts the achievement of system

objectives at risk. Remedial action should be

taken promptly.

Red: fundamental weaknesses have been

identified in the control framework or there

is non-compliance with controls, and this

leaves the systems open to error or abuse.

Remedial action is needed as a priority.

Advisory: these reports do not have a

formal assurance rating as they are a review

of work areas that are ongoing and not

complete.

Page 32: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

30

The committee continued its oversight of the

organisation's risk management and information

governance arrangements. It also followed up

and challenged how the associated plans, and

any actions from internal audit reports, were

implemented.

The committee also reviews the actions relating

to previous assurance reviews, and it received

assurance reports on the following areas of the

GPhC's work:

internal communications

human resources

investment policy

service transformation

Remuneration committee

The remuneration committee has the power,

delegated from the GPhC’s governing council, to

approve or reject the pay framework for GPhC

employees and the packages for the chief

executive and directors. The committee advises

the council on the remuneration (pay) policy for

council members and on the expenses policy for

council members and staff.

The committee is also responsible for setting the

remuneration and expenses policy for associates

and partners.

The committee is made up of four council

members including the chair, Liz Kay, who

stepped down from the committee when her

term of office as a council member ended on 31

March 2017. Liz has chaired the committee since

2010 and we are very grateful for her

contribution to and leadership of the committee.

The committee had previously committed to

increasing the number of independent members

from one to two and, following a successful

appointment process, Rob Goward and Janet

Rubin were appointed to the committee from 1

October 2016.

The committee met twice in the year: April and

September 2016.

Over the year the committee considered the pay

of the chief executive and registrar, directors and

employees. The committee’s other work in this

area focused on pay benchmarking for senior

staff. The committee also recommended to

council that there should be no change to the

pay rates for the chair and members of the

council.

The committee also reviewed the statutory

committee members’ cancellation policy. This

covers associates that are involved in hearings.

Appointments committee

This committee is responsible for recruiting and

appointing statutory committee members. It also

oversees arrangements for their training and for

reviewing their performance.

The committee reports to the council, but no

council members serve on the committee. It also

has an independent chair, Elizabeth Filkin. This is

an important part of making sure there is a

proper separation of tasks between the council

and the statutory committees.

Page 33: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

31

Chief executive and registrar and directors

The GPhC’s staff is headed by the chief executive

and registrar, and grouped around four

directorates:

Inspection and fitness to practise:

Claire Bryce-Smith, director

Operations:

vacant

Strategy:

Hugh Simpson, director

Organisational development and

equality, diversity and inclusion:

Vivienne Murch, director (retired 30 April

2017)

Senior leadership group

The senior leadership group has been set up by

the chief executive and registrar as a way of

carrying out a number of key executive

governance responsibilities. The senior

leadership group is made up of the chief

executive and registrar; the directors; the head

of governance, Matthew Hayday; and the chief of

staff, Lyn Wibberley.

You can find more information about our

structure on our website.

Accounting requirements

The GPhC must, under the Pharmacy Order

2010, prepare annual accounts in a form set by

the Privy Council. We must prepare accounts for

each year in line with UK accounting principles

and the disclosure requirements prescribed in

the United Kingdom Generally Accepted

Accounting Practice (GAAP). The accounts must

be prepared so they give a true and fair view of

the state of affairs of the organisation, and of its

income and spending, recognised gains and

losses, and cash flows for the financial year.

Number and types of complaints

We received 160 complaints about our services

in 2016/17 (189 in 2015/16). Some complaints

were about more than one issue so we have set

them out in the table according to the main

theme of the complaint.

Issue Total

2016/17

GPhC process 81

Outcome of a concern/GPhC

decision

33

Information and data 17

myGPhC 0

Staff conduct 18

Equality and diversity 0

Standards and assessment 8

Fees 0

Other 3

Total 160

Page 34: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

32

How we meet freedom of information

and data protection legislation

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoI),

anyone can ask to see GPhC records. You can

find out how to do this on our website at:

www.pharmacyregulation.org/freedom-

information

Our publication scheme – the ‘model publication

scheme’, revised and approved by the

Information Commissioner (ICO) in 2014 for all

health regulators – commits us to publishing

information routinely.

As a registered data controller under the Data

Protection Act 1998 (DPA), we collect, store and

use personal data. We use this data for, for

example, updating the register, dealing with

complaints, compiling statistics and keeping our

stakeholders up to date with information about

the GPhC.

We may share personal data with other

organisations in the public interest and to

support our statutory role and responsibilities.

You can find out more about how we use and

protect personal data and the organisations

we work with on our website.

As part of our commitment to information

security we are continuing to align our work to

ISO 27001, the international standard for

information security.

There were no personal data breaches

reportable to the ICO in the year.

In 2016/17, we received 212 information

requests under the Freedom of Information and

Data Protection Acts.

Disclosure rates 2016/17

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

FOI DPA Subject

access

Fully provided Partially provided

Not disclosed

Page 35: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

33

Information request type Total

2016/17

FoI 155

DPA* 33

Subject access** 24

* DPA cases are those when a third-party

organisation makes a request for the personal

data of an individual and we consider disclosure

under one of the exemptions in the Data

Protection Act.

**Subject access requests are when someone

asks us to disclose to them the information we

hold about them. We aim to be as transparent as

possible in these cases, but may not be able to

provide all the information they ask for. For

example, we may ‘redact’ (edit or remove)

information that contains the personal data of

other people.

Page 36: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

34

Governance statement 2016/17 Scope of responsibility

As chief executive and registrar, I am

accountable to the council for maintaining a

sound system of internal control that supports

the council’s strategy and objectives, while

safeguarding the GPhC’s assets. I am also

responsible for making sure that GPhC business

is conducted in line with the law and proper

standards.

In carrying out this overall responsibility, I am

responsible for putting in place proper

arrangements for the governance of the GPhC’s

affairs and for making sure it carries out its

functions effectively. This includes arrangements

for risk management.

The purpose of the governance

framework

Governance is about the GPhC making sure it is

doing the right things, in the right way, for the

right people, and in a timely, inclusive, open,

honest and accountable manner.

The governance framework is made up of:

the systems, processes, culture and

values by which the GPhC is directed and

controlled, and

the GPhC’s activities, through which it

engages with registrants, the public and

other stakeholders

The framework allows the GPhC to monitor the

achievement of its objectives and to consider

whether those objectives have been met in an

effective and efficient manner.

The system of internal control is a significant part

of that framework and is designed to manage

risk to a reasonable level. It cannot eliminate all

risk of failure to deliver policies, aims and

objectives. Therefore it can only provide

reasonable (and not absolute) assurance of

effectiveness. The system of internal control is

based on an ongoing process designed to

identify and prioritise these risks, to evaluate the

likelihood and possible impact of those risks

being realised, and to manage them effectively,

efficiently and economically.

The governance framework has been in place at

the GPhC for the year ended 31 March 2017 and

up to the date of approval of the annual report

and statement of accounts.

The governance framework

Our vision for pharmacy regulation is set out in

the GPhC strategic plan 2017–20. Our key

streams of work which will help us achieve our

strategic aims are explained in the GPhC

business plan 2017–20. Both documents are on

the GPhC website.

Our business plan gives our senior leadership

and staff a clear focus. It gives us a framework

we can use to monitor what we are doing to

achieve our priorities, so that we can assess our

progress and performance in implementing the

strategic plan. In turn, key streams of work are

supported by more detailed team plans, which

are also regularly monitored and reviewed.

You can find more information about the

governance framework, including organisational

structure and the workings of our committees,

on pages 28-30 of this annual report.

Page 37: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

35

Review of effectiveness

As chief executive and registrar, I am responsible

for reviewing the effectiveness of the GPhC’s

governance framework, including the system of

internal control. The review of effectiveness is

supported by:

the work of the executive managers within

the GPhC, who have responsibility for the

development and maintenance of the

governance environment

the head of internal audit’s annual report,

and

comments received from the external

auditors and other review agencies

The council has appointed Moore Stephens as

our internal auditors. As in previous years, an

annual audit plan was compiled using

professional judgement, risk evaluation, and

reference to the three-year internal audit

strategy 2014–17. To make sure there is

sufficient breadth of coverage, the adequacy and

effectiveness of the system of internal control

has been assessed in relation to main service

delivery areas, the management systems that

enable us to deliver them, and to our core

processes.

As part of preparing for change, we have worked

with internal audit to ensure our system of

internal control is fit for both the present and

future. This has resulted in our having to address

more challenging findings than in previous years,

but has provided an assurance foundation for

our programme of work going forward. In their

annual report, the head of internal audit has

acknowledged the impact of the transformation

agenda on our assurance profile, but notes that

this has not had an impact on the annual audit

opinion and reflects our planned improvements

of the internal control processes.

I have been advised on the implications of the

result of the review of effectiveness of the

governance framework by the audit and risk

committee, and advised that the arrangements

continue to be regarded as fit for purpose within

our governance framework. The areas we have

already addressed and those to be specifically

addressed with new actions are outlined below.

Significant governance issues

Governance issue: developing collective

corporate ownership of data to support

future changes to ways of working.

Mitigating/proposed action: work has begun to

review the performance and management

information needed by the GPhC, as well as the

process and technical requirements to supply it.

We will set up a formal project to make sure that

this work delivers on the requirements identified

by the organisation. This will complement the

existing objectives in the business plan 2017–20

on developing our data insight and strategy

Governance issue: providing evidence of the

proper exercise of delegated authority during

the development of new initiatives. This is

related to the scope of interim accreditation

visits to training providers and a lack of

clarity about how these would be carried out,

when the overall methodology was approved

by the council.

Mitigating/proposed action: we will carry out a

review of interim visits and their objectives. This

will then feed into the GPhC review and

consultation on the initial education and training

for pharmacists and how training is accredited.

This will be presented to the council for approval,

Page 38: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

36

subject to any changes arising from the

consultation.

Governance issue: The timeliness of

information sharing with key internal

stakeholders, and the efficiency of our

processes for doing this.

Mitigating/proposed action: work has begun

which will define ‘never events’* in relation to our

regulatory functions. This will assess the controls

required, address any identified gaps and plan

reporting arrangements. A paper on this will be

brought to the audit and risk committee by

January 2018.

* The NHS defines ‘never events’ as ‘serious,

largely preventable patient safety incidents that

should not occur if existing national guidance or

safety recommendations have been

implemented by healthcare providers’.

Summary

I propose over the coming year to take steps to

address the above matters to further enhance

our governance arrangements. I am satisfied

that these steps will address the need for

improvements that were identified in our review

of effectiveness, and I will monitor their

implementation and operation as part of my

next annual review.

Duncan Rudkin

Chief Executive

7 June 2017

Page 39: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

37

Financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2017 Review of business activities

During 2016/17 we have built on our

commitment to efficiency and effectiveness while

continuing to meet the changing needs of

patients and the public.

Income

Our total income for the year 2016/17 was

£22.6m (2015/16: £21.4m).

Our income was mainly made up of:

£14m from the 53,967 pharmacists on the

register (2015/16: £13.2m income from 51,906

pharmacists)

£2.9m from the 23,318 pharmacy technicians on

the register (2015/16: £2.7m from 23,074

pharmacy technicians), and

£3.7m from the 14,403 registered pharmacies on

the register (2015/16: £3.6m from 14,397

registered pharmacies).

These figures include annual renewal fees, and

initial registration and application fees.

Income received during the financial year from

pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and

registered pharmacies does not reflect actual

monies received during the year. Income is

recognised in the accounts over the length of the

registration year, with the balance shown on the

balance sheet as deferred income.

Department of Health grant income received in

previous years has been spent in full. An element

of the grant related to capital expenditure and

has been credited to the income statement over

the life of the relevant assets. In 2016/17 £0.6m

of income related to this grant release.

Income received from the pre-registration

assessment exam and the pre-registration year

was £1.1m (2015/16: £1.1m). A total of 3,469

students took the exams, in June and September

2016 (2015: 3,840).

Expenditure

During the year to 31 March 2017 the

organisation delivered on a number of objectives

without an increased requirement for resources.

Please see Note 3 for more details on

expenditure.

The number of staff at the end of the year is the

same as at the beginning of the year although

there has been a high level of turnover. Payroll

costs have increased by 4%.

Surplus/deficit for the year

The budget approved by council for 2016/17

authorised a planned deficit of £1m to be funded

out of existing reserves. The actual result is a

surplus of £0.3m (2015/16 £0.5m deficit). This is

due to increased income as a result of growth in

the register, and maintaining tight controls on

costs, as well as delaying investment in

transformation, which resulted in lower than

budgeted IT costs.

Page 40: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

38

Statement of the council’s responsibilities for the

preparation of financial statements

The council is responsible for preparing the

General Pharmaceutical Council’s report and the

financial statements in accordance with

applicable law and regulations.

Under the Pharmacy Order 2010, council

members must prepare financial statements for

each financial year. Under that law, the Privy

Council has directed the GPhC to prepare the

financial statements in accordance with United

Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice

(United Kingdom Accounting Standard and

applicable laws) including Financial Reporting

Standard 102. Council members will not approve

the financial statements unless they are satisfied

that they give a true and fair view of the state of

affairs and the surplus or deficit of the GPhC for

that period. In preparing these financial

statements, the council members must:

select suitable accounting policies and then

apply them consistently

make judgements and accounting estimates

that are reasonable and prudent

state whether applicable UK accounting

standards have been followed, and disclose

and explain any material departures from

these in the financial statements

prepare the financial statements on a ‘going-

concern’ basis unless it is inappropriate to

assume that the GPhC will continue its

activities

Council members are responsible for keeping

adequate accounting records. These must be

adequate to show and explain the GPhC’s

transactions, and disclose with reasonable

accuracy – at any time – the financial position of

the GPhC. They must enable the council to

ensure that the financial statements keep to the

Pharmacy Order 2010. Council members are also

responsible for safeguarding the assets of the

GPhC and therefore for taking reasonable steps

to prevent and detect fraud and other

irregularities.

As far as each council member is aware, there is

no relevant audit information of which the

GPhC’s auditors are unaware. Council members

have taken all steps that they ought to have

taken to make themselves aware of any relevant

audit information and to establish that the

auditors are aware of that information.

Appointment of auditors

The GPhC will be carrying out a re-tendering

exercise in 2017/18 with a view to appointing

auditors in the latter part of the year.

By the order of the council

Nigel Clarke

Chair

7 June 2017

Page 41: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

39

Independent auditor's report to the council members of

the General Pharmaceutical Council

We have audited the financial statements of the

General Pharmaceutical Council (the 'GPhC') for

the year ended 31 March 2017 which comprise

the statement of comprehensive income, the

statement of financial position, the statement of

cash flows, the statement of changes in funds

and the related notes. The financial reporting

framework that has been applied in their

preparation is applicable law and United

Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom

Generally Accepted Accounting Practice),

including FRS 102 'The Financial Reporting

Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of

Ireland'.

This report is made solely to the council

members of the GPhC, as a body, in accordance

with the terms of our engagement. Our audit

work has been undertaken so that we might

state to the council members of the GPhC those

matters we are required to state to them in an

auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the

fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept

or assume responsibility to anyone other than

the GPhC and the council members of the GPhC

as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or

for the opinions we have formed.

Respective responsibilities of council

members and auditor

As explained more fully in the Statement of the

council's responsibilities set out on page 38, the

council is responsible for the preparation of the

financial statements and for being satisfied that

they give a true and fair view. Our responsibility

is to audit and express an opinion on the

financial statements in accordance with

applicable law and International Standards on

Auditing (UK and Ireland). Those standards

require us to comply with the Auditing Practices

Board’s Ethical Standards for Auditors.

Scope of the audit of the financial

statements

A description of the scope of an audit of financial

statements is provided on the Financial

Reporting Council's website at

www.frc.org.uk/auditscopeukprivate

Opinion on financial statements

In our opinion, the financial statements give a

true and fair view of the state of the General

Pharmaceutical Council’s affairs as at 31 March

2017 and of its surplus for the year then ended

in accordance with United Kingdom Generally

Accepted Accounting Practice including FRS 102

'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in

the UK and Republic of Ireland'.

Grant Thornton UK LLP

Statutory Auditor, Chartered Accountants

London

7 June 2017

Page 42: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

40

Statement of comprehensive income

for the year ending 31 March 2017

Note 2017

£000

2016

£000

Income 2 22,595 21,385

Expenditure 3 (22,490) (22,062)

Operating surplus / (deficit) 105 (677)

Interest receivable and similar income 4 194 234

Surplus / (Deficit) on ordinary activities

before taxation

5 299 (443)

Taxation 6 (33) (46)

Total comprehensive income / (loss) for

the year

266 (489)

Reconciliation of funds

Total funds brought forward 13,359 13,848

Accumulated funds as at 31 March 13,625 13,359

All activities of the GPhC are continuing.

There were no recognised gains and losses for 2017 or 2016 other than those included in the income

statement.

The notes on page 44 to 56 form part of these financial statements.

Page 43: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

41

Statement of financial position

as at 31 March 2017

Note 2017 2017 2016 2016

£000 £000 £000 £000

Fixed assets

Tangible assets 7 4,273 5,782

Current assets

Debtors 8 1,646 1,711

Bank and cash 9 26,963 25,651

28,609 27,362

Creditors: amounts falling due within one

year

10 (15,772) (16,023)

Net current assets 12,837 11,339

Total assets less current liabilities 17,110 17,121

Creditors: amounts falling due after more

than one year

11 (3,310) (3,591)

Provisions for liabilities 12 (175) (171)

Total net assets 13,625 13,359

Funds employed

Accumulated surplus 13,625 13,359

Total funds employed 13,625 13,359

The financial statements on pages 40 to 56 were approved and signed on behalf of the council by:

Nigel Clarke

Chair

7 June 2017

The notes on page 44 to 56 form part of these financial statements.

Page 44: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

42

Statement of cash flows

for the year ended 31 March 2017

Note 2017 2016

£000 £000

Cash flows from operating activities

Surplus / (deficit) for the financial year 105 (677)

Adjustments for:

Depreciation of tangible assets 1,588 1,058

Loss on sale of tangible assets - 83

Release of capital contribution (451) (455)

Taxation (44) (36)

Decrease/(increase) in trade and other debtors 65 (197)

Increase/(decrease) in trade and other creditors (207) 204

Net cash generated from operating activities 1,056 (20)

Cash flows from investing activities

Purchases of tangible fixed assets (79) (15)

Capital contribution 11 141 147

Interest received 4 194 234

Net cash from investing activities 256 366

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 1,312 346

Net cash funds as at 1 April 25,651 25,305

Transfer to restricted cash - (30)

Unrestricted cash at end of year 26,963 25,621

Restricted cash in escrow account - 30

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 26,963 25,651

The notes on page 44 to 56 form part of these financial statements.

Page 45: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

43

Statement of changes in funds

for the year ending 31 March 2017

Accumulated

funds

£000

At 1 April 2015 13,848

Deficit for the year (489)

At 31 March 2016 13,359

Surplus for the year 266

At 31 March 2017 13,625

The notes on page 44 to 56 form part of these financial statements.

Page 46: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

44

Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2017

1 Accounting policies

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) was established by the Pharmacy Order 2010 and is

domiciled in the United Kingdom. The principal place of business is 25 Canada Square, Canary Wharf,

London E14 5LQ.

1.1 The format of the accounts

The General Pharmaceutical Council is required to prepare annual accounts in a form as determined

by the Privy Council. The Privy Council is required to lay the certified accounts before each House of

Parliament and the Scottish Parliament. The statutory purpose of the GPhC is to protect, promote

and maintain the health, safety and wellbeing of members of the public by upholding standards and

public trust in pharmacy.

These financial statements have been prepared on a going-concern basis in accordance with

applicable United Kingdom accounting standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 – ‘The

Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland’ (‘FRS 102’).

The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis.

The financial statements are presented in Sterling (£).

1.2 Critical accounting estimates and judgements

To be able to prepare financial statements in accordance with FRS 102, the General Pharmaceutical

Council must make certain estimates and judgements that have an impact on the policies and the

amounts reported in the annual accounts. The estimates and judgements are based on historical

experiences and other factors including expectations of future events that are believed to be

reasonable at the time such estimates and judgements are made. Actual experience may vary from

these estimates.

The estimates and assumptions which have the most significant risk of causing a material adjustment

to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities are discussed below:

Depreciation and amortisation

The General Pharmaceutical Council accounts for depreciation and amortisation in accordance with

FRS 102. The depreciation and amortisation expense is the recognition of the decline in the value of

the asset and allocation of the cost of the asset over the periods in which the asset will be used.

Judgements are made on the estimated useful life of the assets which are regularly reviewed to

reflect the changing environment.

Page 47: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

45

Provisions

The General Pharmaceutical Council accounts for provisions in accordance with FRS 102. There are

currently two types of provisions

i A bad debt provision is set up when a debt has been outstanding for a period of more than 12

months or the GPhC becomes aware that the likelihood of recovering the debt is diminished.

The level of provision will be based on any current repayment plan entered into and which is

being adhered to by the debtor, together with an estimate of the likelihood of the amounts

due being fully recovered.

In line with FRS 102 a provision has been set up to account for any annual leave entitlement which

remains outstanding at 31 March.

1.3 Fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets include leasehold properties and equipment. All assets in these categories with

a value of £1,000 or more have been capitalised (including the cost of implementation). Fixed assets

are valued at cost less depreciation. Depreciation is calculated on a straight line basis.

The lease on 25 Canada Square in Canary Wharf is for 15 years with a lessee-only break-clause after

10 years. The GPhC has benefitted from a capital contribution of £4.1m, by way of landlord incentive,

towards the fitting-out of the premises. This amount is being spread over the ten-year lease period to

offset the annual rental costs.

The principal useful economic lives of assets are as follows:

Leasehold property – ten years

Office furniture – five years

Computer software – five years

Computer hardware (excluding PCs and laptops) – three years

PCs and laptops – one to three years

1.4 Impairment

At each balance sheet date, the General Pharmaceutical Council reviews the carrying amounts of its

assets to determine whether there is any indication the assets have suffered an impairment loss. If

any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the

extent of the impairment loss. An impairment loss is charged to the statement of comprehensive

income immediately.

1.5 Expenditure

Expenditure is accounted for on an accrual basis when either the goods have been received or the

service performed. Irrecoverable VAT is included with the item of expense to which it relates.

Page 48: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

46

1.6 Income

All fees from registrants and premises are shown in the statement of comprehensive income for the

period to which they relate. Income attributable to future periods is included in creditors under

deferred income.

Interest on loans and deposits is accrued as earned.

Government grants are recognised based on the accrual model and classified either as a grant

relating to revenue or a grant relating to assets.

All other income is shown in the statement of comprehensive income when due.

1.7 Pension costs

Past and present employees are covered by the provisions of the two NHS Pension schemes. Details

of the benefits payable and rules of the schemes can be found on the NHS Pensions website at

www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pensions. Both are unfunded defined benefit schemes that cover NHS

employers, GP practices and other bodies, allowed under the direction of the Secretary of State in

England and Wales. They are not designed to be run in a way that would enable NHS bodies to

identify their share of the underlying scheme assets and liabilities. Therefore, each scheme is

accounted for as if it were a defined contribution scheme: the cost to the GPhC of participating in

each scheme is taken as equal to the contributions payable to that scheme for the accounting period.

In order that the defined benefit obligations recognised in the financial statements do not differ

materially from those that would be determined at the reporting date by a formal actuarial valuation,

the financial reporting manual (FReM) requires that “the period between formal valuations shall be

four years, with approximate assessments in intervening years”. An outline of these follows:

a Accounting valuation

A valuation of scheme liability is carried out annually by the scheme actuary (currently the

Government Actuary’s Department) as at the end of the reporting period. This utilises an actuarial

assessment for the previous accounting period in conjunction with updated membership and

financial data for the current reporting period, and is accepted as providing suitably robust figures for

financial reporting purposes. The valuation of scheme liability as at 31 March 2017, is based on

valuation data as at 31 March 2016, updated to 31 March 2017 with summary global member and

accounting data. In undertaking this actuarial assessment, the methodology prescribed in IAS 19,

relevant FReM interpretations, and the discount rate prescribed by HM Treasury have also been

used.

The latest assessment of the liabilities of the scheme is contained in the scheme actuary report,

which forms part of the annual NHS pension scheme (England and Wales) pension accounts. These

accounts can be viewed on the NHS Pensions website and are published annually. Copies can also be

obtained from The Stationery Office.

Page 49: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

47

b Full actuarial (funding) valuation

The purpose of this valuation is to assess the level of liability in respect of the benefits due under the

schemes (taking into account their recent demographic experience), and to recommend contribution

rates payable by employees and employers.

The last published actuarial valuation undertaken for the NHS Pension scheme was completed for

the year ending 31 March 2012. The scheme regulations allow for the level of contribution rates to be

changed by the Secretary of State for Health, with the consent of HM Treasury, and consideration of

the advice of the scheme actuary and appropriate employee and employer representatives as

deemed appropriate.

The next actuarial valuation is to be carried out as at 31 March 2016. This will set the employer

contribution rate payable from April 2019 and will consider the cost of the scheme relative to the

employer cost cap. There are provisions in the Public Service Pension Act 2013 to adjust member

benefits or contribution rates if the cost of the scheme changes by more than 2% of pay. Subject to

this ‘employer cost cap’ assessment, any required revisions to member benefits or contribution rates

will be determined by the Secretary of State for Health after consultation with the relevant

stakeholders.

c Scheme provisions

The NHS pension scheme is a defined benefit public service pension scheme, which operates on a

pay-as-you-go basis. A new reformed scheme was introduced on 1 April 2015 that calculates pension

benefits based on career average earnings. Transitional arrangements permit individuals who on 1

April 2012 were within ten years of normal pension age to continue participating in the old ‘final

salary’ NHS Pension Scheme arrangements (the 1995 and 2008 sections). The NHS pension scheme

provides defined benefits, which are summarised below. This list is an illustrative guide only, and is

not intended to detail all the benefits provided by the scheme or the specific conditions that must be

met before the benefits can be obtained.

The 1995 section is a final salary scheme. Annual pensions are normally based on 1/80th of the

best of the last three years’ pensionable pay for each year of service

The 2008 section is a final salary scheme. Annual pensions are normally based on 1/60th of the

average of the best three consecutive years within the last 10 years for each year of service

The 2015 scheme is a career average revalued earnings (“CARE”) scheme. Annual pensions are

normally based on 1/54th of career average revalued earnings for each year of service

With effect from 1 April 2008 members can choose to give up some of their annual pension for an

additional tax-free lump sum, up to a maximum permitted under HMRC rules. This new provision is

known as pension commutation.

Annual increases are applied to pension payments at rates defined by the (Increase) Act 1971 and are

based on changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the twelve months ending 30 September in

the previous calendar year. Early payment of a pension with enhancement is available to members of

Page 50: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

48

the scheme who are permanently incapable of fulfilling their duties effectively through illness or

infirmity. A death gratuity of twice their final year’s pensionable pay for death in service, and five

times their annual pension for death after retirement is payable.

For early retirement other than those due to ill health the additional pension liabilities are not funded

by the scheme. The full amount of the liability for the additional costs is charged to the employer.

Members can purchase additional service in the NHS scheme and contribute to money purchase

additional voluntary contributions run by the scheme’s approved provider, or by other free-standing

AVC providers.

d Defined contribution scheme

The GPhC set up a defined contribution scheme in February 2014 but the assets are entirely

independent from those of the NHS scheme. The plan is not contracted out of the State Second

Pension. Employees’ participation is voluntary, although all staff are initially required to be opted in.

Where an employee chooses to be a member, the GPhC will contribute as follows:

Employee contribution Employer contribution

1-5% 1-5%

6% 12%

7% 14% max

From April 2018 employer and employee minimum contributions will be 3%, rising to 5% from April

2019.

Contributions to the defined contribution scheme are charged to the statement of comprehensive

income as they fall due.

1.8 Operating lease rentals

Leases are classified as finance leases whenever the terms of the lease transfer substantially all the

risks and rewards of ownership of the leased asset to the entity. All other leases are classified as

operating leases. Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the statement of

comprehensive income on a straight-line basis over the lease term. The aggregate benefit of lease

incentives is recognised as a reduction to the expense recognised over the lease term on a straight-

line basis.

Page 51: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

49

1.9 Management of liquid resources

The GPhC has one main current account from which all day-to-day transactions take place. The

balance of this account is kept to a minimum to ensure that surplus funds are placed on short- to

medium-term deposits. The policy in managing cash is to maximise returns while minimising risk.

1.10 Long-term liabilities

The landlord has contributed to the fit-out of 25 Canada Square which has been spread over the term

of the lease.

1.11 Financial instruments

The GPhC only enters into basic financial instrument transactions that result in the recognition of

financial assets and liabilities like trade and other accounts receivable and payable, loans from banks

and other third parties and loans to related parties. Basic financial instruments are initially

recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at amortised cost.

2 Income

2017

£000

2016

£000

Pharmacists 13,997 13,190

Premises 3,695 3,574

Pharmacy technicians 2,901 2,691

Pre-registration 1,080 1,132

Grant income 625 308

Other income 297 490

Total income 22,595 21,385

Page 52: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

50

3 Expenditure

2017

£000

2016

£000

Employee costs: payroll 10,856 10,447

Other employee costs 2,411 2,811

Property costs 278 294

Office costs 357 439

Professional costs 2,335 2,015

Event costs 489 416

Marketing costs 106 149

Financial costs 1,722 1,197

Research costs 102 180

IT costs 1,573 1,893

Other costs 236 200

Occupancy costs 2,025 2,021

Total expenditure 22,490 22,062

Employee costs

Employee costs including directors were made up as follows:

2017

£000

2016

£000

Wages and salaries 9,108 8,801

Employer’s National Insurance 1,009 887

Pension costs 739 759

10,856 10,447

Page 53: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

51

Expenditure (continued)

As at 31 March 2017 the number of staff employed by the GPhC was 224 (224 at 31 March 2016).

The average number of staff employed during the year ended 31 March 2017 was 222 (220 for the

year ended 31 March 2016).

Detailed below is a schedule showing numbers of staff, excluding directors, who are earning above

£50,000:

2017 2016

£50,001 – £60,000 29 23

£60,001 – £70,000 6 5

£70,001 – £80,000 11 9

£80,001 – £90,000 1 -

£90,001 -– £100,000 1 1

48 38

Under FRS 102, key management personnel are those persons having authority and responsibility for

planning, directing and controlling the activities of the entity, directly or indirectly. This includes the

chief executive and registrar and the directors.

Remuneration in respect of key management personnel was as follows:

2017

£000

2016

£000

Wages and salaries 468 524

Employer’s National Insurance 60 63

Pension costs 33 42

561 629

The key management personnel remuneration, excluding pension contributions, fell within the

following ranges:

2017 2016

Number of

individuals

Number of

individuals

£70,001 – £80,000 - 2

£80,001 – £90,000 1 -

£90,001 – £100,000 - 1

£100,001 – £110,000 1 -

£110,001 – £120,000 1 1

£160,001 – £170,000 1 1

4 5

Page 54: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

52

Expenditure (continued)

Expenses for key management personnel:

Name Travel Accommodation Subsistence Total

Duncan Rudkin 1,554 401 40 1,995

Hugh Simpson 815 515 27 1,357

Claire Bryce-Smith 857 293 25 1,175

Vivienne Murch did not claim any expenses during the year.

Remuneration of highest-paid director as a multiple of median

remuneration

2017 2016

Mid-point of band of highest-paid director’s total remuneration 165,000 165,000

Median total remuneration 38,800 36,800

Remuneration ratio 1:4 1:4

Council members’ pay and expenses 2017 2016

£000 £000

Total pay, council members 208 208

Total expenses paid to council members 26 22

234 230

4 Interest receivable and similar income

2017 2016

£000 £000

Interest receivable 194 234

194 234

Page 55: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

53

5 Surplus / (Deficit) on ordinary activities before taxation

This is stated after charging:

2017

£000

2016

£000

Operating lease rentals: motor vehicles 151 168

Operating lease rentals: photocopiers 18 28

Operating lease rentals: buildings 1,202 1,202

Depreciation of tangible fixed assets 1,588 1,058

Auditors’ remuneration: for audit services 32 32

6 Taxation 2017

£000

2016

£000

UK corporation tax at 20% (2016: 20%) in the year 33 46

Under/(Over) provision in respect of prior year - -

33 46

Corporation tax is only payable on interest receivable and data subscription income, net of

attributable costs, in the year.

7 Fixed assets Leasehold Office equipment Total

£000 £000 £000

Cost

As at 1 April 2016 5,581 2,044 7,625

Additions 26 53 79

As at 31 March 2017 5,607 2,097 7,704

Depreciation

As at 1 April 2016 914 929 1,843

Charge for the year

585

1,003

1,588

As at 31 March 2017 1,499 1,932 3,431

Net book value

As at 31 March 2017 4,108 165 4,273

As at 31 March 2016 4,667 1,115 5,782

Page 56: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

54

8 Debtors

2017

£000

2016

£000

Trade debtors 48 104

Registrant direct debits to be collected 239 226

Other debtors 100 112

Prepayments and accrued income 1,200 1,239

Debtors (due in more than one year)

Trade debtors 59 30

1,646 1,711

9 Bank and cash

2017

£000

2016

£000

Current accounts 275 283

Deposit accounts 26,688 25,368

26,963 25,651

Money is moved from deposit accounts into the current account as and when needed. This ensures a

maximum return is earned from money on deposit.

10 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

2017

£000

2016

£000

Trade creditors 845 1,061

Corporation tax 39 49

Other taxes and HMRC 279 252

Other creditors 13 15

Accruals 738 537

Deferred income 13,858 14,109

15,772 16,023

Deferred income is made up of the following:

Deferred income from registrants and premises 13,737 13,364

Other deferred income 11 10

Deferred capital grant

110

735

13,858 14,109

Page 57: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

55

11 Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year

2017

£000

2016

£000

Balance at 1 April 3,591 3,870

Reserve built up during the year

Capital contribution 141 147

Rent increase accrual 29 29

Reserve released during the year (451) (455)

Balance at 31 March 3,310 3,591

Split of rent reserve:

Reserve reversing in one year 465 442

Current obligations 465 442

Reserve reversing within two to five years 1,858 1,768

Reserve reversing more than five years 987 1,381

Non-current obligations 2,845 3,149

Total 3,310 3,591

12 Provisions for liabilities

Leave pay

£000

At 1 April 2016

171

Released (171)

Additions 175

At 31 March 2017 175

Under FRS 102, the GPhC is required to accrue for all short-term compensated absences as holiday

entitlement earned but not taken at the date of the statement of financial position.

The impact of the leave pay accrual in the income statement is £4k at 31 March 2017 (£12k at 31

March 2016). The impact in reserves is £175k at 31 March 2017 (£171k at 31 March 2016).

Page 58: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

56

13 Commitments

As at 31 March 2017 the GPhC’s future minimum operating lease payments are as follows:

2017

£000

2016

£000

Within one year

motor vehicles 127 135

property 791 791

equipment 18 18

936 944

Between one year and five years

motor vehicles 93 153

property 3,162 3,162

equipment 3 21

3,258 3,336

Later than five years

property 1,679 2,470

1,679 3,260

14 Related parties

There are no transactions with related parties other than the transactions with council members

shown in note 3 (council members’ pay and expenses).

15 Financial risk management

The GPhC has a formal risk management framework for which the council is accountable. GPhC has

exposure to liquidity risk. The objective of the GPhC in managing liquidity risk is to ensure that it can

meet its financial obligations as and when they fall due. The GPhC expects to meet its financial

obligations through operating cash flows. Given the availability of cash as stated in note 9, the GPhC

is in position to meet its commitments and obligations as they come due. Funds are placed with

investment grade institutions.

Page 59: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the

General Pharmaceutical Council

Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17

57

Appendix 1: General Pharmaceutical Council

Accounts Determination given by the Privy Council

under the Pharmacy Order 2010 Their Lordships make the following determination in exercise of powers conferred by Schedule 1 (7) of the

Pharmacy Order 2010.

This determination has effect from 13 March 2010.

Interpretation

1. In this determination –

“the accounts” means the statement of accounts which it is the Council’s duty to prepare under section 2

Schedule 1 (7) of the Pharmacy Order 2010

“the Council” means the General Pharmaceutical Council.

Determination

2. The Council must prepare the accounts for each calendar year in compliance with the accounting principles

and disclosure requirements prescribed in the Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (GAAP).

3. The first accounts will be prepared for the financial year 2010-2011, and will incorporate any residual

accounts declaration from the financial year 2009-2010.

4. The accounts must be prepared so as to:

give a true and fair view of the state of affairs as at the end of the calendar year and of the income

and expenditure, total recognised gains and losses (or, as appropriate, recognised gains and losses),

and cash flows of the Council for the calendar year then ended; and

5. Compliance with the requirements of the GAAP will, in all but exceptional circumstances, be necessary for

the accounts to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs for the financial year in question.

6. If there are such exceptional circumstances and compliance with the requirements of the GAAP would give

rise to the preparation of accounts which were inconsistent with the requirement for those accounts to give

a true and fair view of the state of affairs at the end of that year, the requirements of the GAAP should be

departed from only to the extent necessary to give a true and fair view of that state of affairs.

7. In cases referred to in paragraph 5, informed and unbiased judgement should be used to devise an

appropriate alternative treatment which is consistent with both the economic characteristics of the

circumstances concerned.

8. Any material departure from the GAAP should be discussed, in the first instance, with the Privy Council

Office in any event.

9. This determination is to be reproduced as an appendix to the published accounts.

Signed by the authority of the Privy Council

Page 60: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the
Page 61: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the
Page 62: Annual report - General Pharmaceutical Council...General Pharmaceutical Council Annual report: annual fitness to practise report and annual accounts 2016/17 4 Foreword ... and the