South East Scotland Faculty

Interpretation

1. The Interpretation Act 1978 applies to these Bye-laws as to an Act of Parliament.
2. Word and phrases used in the Charger, Ordinances and Bye-laws of the College mean the same in these Bye-laws.

Faculty Name

3. The name of the Faculty shall be the South East Scotland Faculty of the Royal College of General Practitioners (referred to in these rules as “the Faculty”).

Area of the Faculty

4. The area of the Faculty shall be the Lothians, the Borders and Fife.

Terms of Reference

5. The terms of reference of the Faculty are to further the College object in the area referred to in Bye-law 4 of these Bye-laws, subject to the Charter, Ordinances and Bye-laws of the College.

Membership of the Faculty

6. The members of the Faculty shall be those members of the College practicing or employed in the area referred to in Bye-law 4 of these Bye-laws or, if retired or otherwise not practicing or employed, residing within that area. The Board may in addition permit the privileges of the membership of the Faculty to be made available to members of the College not qualified for membership under the previous provisions of this Bye-law.

Associateship of the Faculty

7. The associates of the Faculty shall be those associates of the College practicing or employed in the area referred to in Bye-law 4 of these Bye-laws or if retired or otherwise not practicing or employed, residing within that area. The Board may in addition grant the privileges of associateship of the Faculty to individual associates of the College not qualified for associateship under the previous provisions of this Bye-law. Associates may attend general meetings of the Faculty, but shall not be entitled to vote.

General Meetings

8. The Annual General Meeting of the Faculty shall be held once in each Faculty year (defined for this purpose as running from 1st November in one year to the following 30th October) on a date and time decided by the Board. Notice of the Annual General Meeting shall be sent to all members and associates not less than 21 clear days before the meeting.
9. The Board may, not less than 28 days before the date on which an Annual General Meeting of the Faculty is due to be held, resolve to dispense with the Annual General Meeting if it appears unlikely that a quorum will be obtained or that there are other good reasons for doing so. Notice of the fact that the Annual General Meeting has been dispended with shall be sent to all members and associates not less that 14 days before the date on which the Annual General Meeting would have been held. Where the Board has dispensed with the Annual General Meeting, the Board may take such decisions as could have been taken by the Annual General Meeting and the provisions of these Bye-laws shall apply as necessary.
10. 1The business of the Annual General Meeting shall be:
    1. To approve the minutes of the previous general meeting.
    2. To receive the results of elections to the Board.
    3. To receive the Annual Report of the Board.
    4. To approve the accounts of the Board for the preceding financial year to 31st March.
    5. Member’s motions; and
    6. Such other business as the Chairman may allow.
11. Any 10 members of the Faculty may by requisition to the Chairman or Honorary Secretary demand that an extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of the Faculty be convened, on no less than 28 days notice, for the purpose of considering any motion set out in the requisition.
12. The quorum of the general meeting of the Faculty shall be 10 members and associates. If within 15 minutes of the time appointed for the beginning of the meeting a quorum is not present, the meeting shall be abandoned and, in the case of an Annual General Meeting, the Board may take such decisions as could have been reached by that meeting as if the meeting has been dispensed with under Bye-law 8 of these Bye-laws.
13. The Provost or other Officer designated by the Board shall chair all general meetings of the Faculty. In the absence of the Provost and any Officer designated to preside, the members present at the meeting shall elect one of their number to Chair the meeting.
14. The rules of debate at the general meeting of the Faculty shall, subject to the discretion of the Chairman of the meeting, be those applicable to the general meetings of the College, with the necessary adaptions.
15. All motions at general meetings of the Faculty shall be decided by a majority of the members present voting and the Chairman of the meeting shall have a second or casting vote, regardless of whether he or she has already voted.

Officers of the Faculty

16. The Officers of the Faculty shall be:
    • Provost
    • Chairman
    • Honorary Secretary; and
    • Honorary Treasurer
    • And such other Officers as the Board shall decide from time to time.
    • The term of office of the Officers shall be three years.
17. The Chairman and Honorary Treasurer of the Board shall be elected by the members of the Faculty, in such a manner as the Board shall decide, and every member shall be entitled to a vote. No election need take place if only one candidate is duly nominated for any particular vacancy. If a system of single transferable votes is adopted, it shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure advised by the Electoral Reform Society.
18. One third of the Board’s elected members are to retire each year. Members are eligible for a second term of service, but are ineligible for a year after a 6 year term of continuous service. The Chairman and Secretary of the Board are elected for 3 years and can complete this irrespective of their previous length of service on the Board.
19. Nominations for election to the Board shall be made by post not later than 4 weeks prior to the Faculty Annual General Meeting. Elections shall be by postal ballot, to take place not later than 2 weeks prior to the Annual General Meeting and voting for these places will then be by ballot at the meeting.
20. Associates shall be elected and retire annually, subject to a maximum continuous spell of service of 6 years.
21. The Board shall have the power at any time to fill vacancies by co-option until the next Faculty Annual General Meeting.

Faculty Board

22. The management of the affairs of the Faculty shall be vested in a Faculty Board (referred to as “the Board” in these Bye-laws), which is empowered, subject to the provision of the Charter, Ordinance and Bye-laws of the College and any direction of the Council, to act on behalf of the College and the Faculty. The Board may regulate its own procedure, subject as previously stated.
23. The members of the Board shall be the Provost, Chairman, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer and 20 members from across the Faculty; at least 6 members should be practicing out with Edinburgh. Past Chairman and Faculty representatives for UK and Scottish Council are in addition to the 20.
24. The Board can co-opt further members of the Faculty or College, and lay people for such purposes as it thinks fit.
25. The Board may appoint such committees for such purposes as it thinks fit.
26. The Board and any of its committees or sub-committees may if the Chairman of the body concerned agrees meet wholly or partly by telephone or video conference, provided all the members have been sent the papers for the meeting (including electronic means). The quorum for meetings of the Board shall be 5.

Faculty Representative(s) on the College Council

27. The Board shall be responsible for nominating the Faculty representative(s) on the College Council and the Scottish Council.

Accounts and Financial Arrangements

28. The Honorary Treasurer of the Faculty shall be responsible for drawing up the Accounts of the Faculty for the previous 12 months to 31st March, including a balance sheet and profit and loss account. The accounts as so drawn up shall be sent to the Honorary Treasurer of the College, for inclusion in the Annual Financial Report of the College.
29. The banking account(s) of the Faculty shall be held at Unity Trust Bank or such other bank as the Board may from time to time decide, subject to the approval of the Honorary Treasurer of the College. Appropriate procedure shall be put in place by the Board, subject to the approval of the Honorary Treasure of the College, for signature of cheques.

Amendment, revocation or re-making of Bye-laws

30. These Bye-laws may, subject to the approval of the College Council, be amended, revoked and re-made by resolution of the members of the Faculty in general meetings. Passed by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting.