West Scotland Faculty

Interpretation

1. The Interpretation Act applies to these Bye-Laws as to an Act of Parliament.
2. Words and phrases used in the Charter, 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 West of 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 geographical area covered by the undernoted Health Boards:
   • Argyll and Clyde
   • Ayrshire and Arran
   • Dumfries and Galloway
   • Forth Valley
   • Greater Glasgow
   • Lanarkshire

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 membership of the Faculty to be made available to members of the College not qualified for membership of the Faculty under the 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. 1. Subject to the provisions of paragraph (2), 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 next 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 of the Faculty not less than 21 clear days before the meeting.
   2. 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 dispensed with shall be sent to all members and associates not less than 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 may have been taken by the Annual General Meeting, and the provisions of these Bye-Laws shall apply as necessary.
9. The 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 31 March;
   5. Members’ motions; and
   6. Such other business as the Chairman will allow.
10. Any twenty 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 not less than 28 days notice, for the purpose of considering any motion set out in the requisition.
11. The quorum of general meetings of the Faculty shall be twenty. 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 had been dispensed under Bye-Law 8 of these Bye-Laws.
12. The Provost or other person designated by the Board shall chair all general meetings of the Faculty. In the absence of the Provost and the designated officer, any other officer designated by the Board to do so shall preside. 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.
13. The rules of debate at general meetings of the Faculty shall, subject to the discretion of the Chairman of the meeting, be those applicable to general meetings of the College, with the necessary adaptations.
14. All questions at general meetings of the Faculty shall be decided by a majority of the members present and 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

15. The officers of the Faculty shall be a 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.
16. The Chairman and Honorary Treasurer of the Board shall be elected by the members of the Faculty, in such manner as the Board shall decide, and every member shall be eligible to vote. No election needs to take place if only one candidate is duly nominated for any particular vacancy. If a system of single transferable voting is adopted, it shall be carried out in accordance with the procedures advised by the Electoral Reform Society.

Faculty board

17. The management of the affairs of the Faculty shall be invested in a Faculty Board (referred to as “the Board” in these Bye-Laws), which is empowered, subject to the provisions of the Charter, Ordinances and Bye-Laws of the College and any directions of the Council, to act on behalf of the College and the Faculty. The Board may regulate its own procedure, subject as previously stated.
18. The members of the Board shall be:
    1. Ex Official Members:
       • Those members of the College Council and those members of Scottish Council who are members of the Faculty.
       • The immediate past Chairman of the Faculty Board.
    2. Members:
       • The Provost
       • Chairman
       • Honorary Secretary
       • Honorary Treasurer
       • Members elected at the Annual General Meeting to ensure, as far as possible, that there be at least one member or associate member representing each of the following Health Boards referred to in paragraph 4 of these Bye-Laws.
    3. Additional members of the Faculty elected, irrespective of territorial considerations, at the Annual General Meeting, up to a total of twenty-three members.
    4. Two associates of the Faculty, elected at the Annual General Meeting.
    5. Co-opted members, being other persons co-opted by the Board for special purposes in an advisory capacity.

    (a) The method of election of the members of the Board shall be by verbal nomination at the Annual General Meeting or by prior written nomination, in both cases with the nominee having indicated willingness to serve. Voting, where necessary, shall be by show of hands, unless the meeting shall decide to vote by secret ballot. Only members of the Faculty may vote for the election of members under paragraphs 2ai and 2aii above and only associates may vote for the election of associates.

    (b) If the full number of members of the board is not appointed by the Faculty, or if a casual vacancy occurs on the Board, the Board shall have power to appoint a member or associate of the faculty, as appropriate, to fill the vacancy until the next Annual General Meeting.

    (c) At each Annual General Meeting, one third of the members of the Board (or if their number is not a multiple of three, the number nearest to one third) shall retire from office in rotation; the normal term of office for Board members is 3 years and retiring members are eligible for re-election.

    (d) Meetings of the Faculty: The first meeting of each Board shall be held immediately after the Annual General Meeting of the Faculty at which it is appointed. Other meetings of the Board shall be held not less frequently than once in every three months on such dates and at such times and places as are directed by the Board. At meetings of the Board five shall constitute a quorum.

    (e) The Board shall cause to be kept proper minutes of all meetings of the Faculty and of the board, including a note of those attending. When those minutes have been passed as a correct account of the proceedings, a copy shall be sent to the Scottish Council for information and filing.

    (f) The Board may, by ordinary resolution, appoint at any time, a member or members or associate or associates of the Faculty to represent the Faculty on any other body or bodies. The date of commencement of any such appointment and its duration shall be as determined by the Board at the time of the appointment.

Committees and meetings

19. The Board may appoint such committees or sub-committees for such purposes as it thinks fit.
20. 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 members have been sent the papers for the meeting (including by electronic means). The quorum for meetings of the Board shall be five.

Faculty representation on college council

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

Accounts and financial arrangements

22. The Honorary Treasurer of the Faculty shall be responsible for drawing up the Accounts of the Faculty for the previous twelve months to 31 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.
23. The banking account(s) of the Faculty shall be held at the Bank of Scotland, 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 procedures shall be put in place by the Board, subject to the approval of the Honorary Treasurer of the College, for signature of cheques.

Amendment, revocation or re-making of bye-laws

24. 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 meeting, passed by not less than two thirds of the members present and voting.

Reviewed summer 2012