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Home > What we do > Devolution/National pharmacy boards

National pharmacy boards: elections 2009

For information about the 2009 elections for members of the national pharmacy boards, click on the links below:

English Pharmacy Board
Scottish Pharmacy Board
Welsh Pharmacy Board

National pharmacy boards: Background

Since the introduction of political devolution in 1999 in the United Kingdom, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has sought to shape and influence policy relating to pharmacy in three administrations - the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. Powers that have been transferred away from Westminster have varied, leading to a set of unique relationships between each of the devolved administrations and Westminster. Policy divergence is occurring now, and is expected to increase, particularly when different political parties control the various administrations. There are three Departments of Health for England, Scotland and Wales, and each has its own strategy for pharmacy.

Following a review which considered ways in which the Society’s functions, structures and ways of working should evolve to reflect devolution in Scotland and Wales, the Society's Council decided in August 2005 to create the English Pharmacy Board, the Scottish Pharmacy Board and the Welsh Pharmacy Board.

Remit of the devolved pharmacy boards

The remit of the devolved boards, as agreed by the Council in August 2005 and amended in December 2005, is to:

1. Provide strategic leadership and support for pharmacy practice development in [country].
2. Assist development of Council policy and its implementation in [country], and develop and implement policy specific to [country].
3. Promote the science and practice of pharmacy and its contribution to health.
4. Provide professional advice to government and its agencies, NHS bodies, and other health and social care organisations in [country].
5. Support the Society’s branches in [country].
6. Support pharmacists in their professional roles.

For more information about the creation of the boards, click on the links below:

Devolution - a framework for the future. The Fraser Report

The review group completed its report in January 2005.

Devolution - a framework for the future. The Fraser Report

Protocol

A devolution protocol for the RPSGB

Composition

Composition of the RPSGB national pharmacy boards for England, Scotland and Wales

Bringing the boards into being: Regulations and elections

Regulations under the Charter to establish the new structures were approved by the Privy Council on 21 September 2006, and elections to bring the pharmacy boards into being took place in 2006/7. The Scheme governing the elections applied to all three countries. For the Scheme governing the elections, on which all the documentation was based, click here

Contact:

Martyn Schofield
Acting Head of Corporate Secretariat
Tel: 020 7572 2446
email: martyn.schofield@rpsgb.org