Cumbria Faculty

Executive Officers

• Dr Venetia Young - Provost
• Dr Ebele Dunkwu - Chair
• Dr Ayesha Mehmud - Vice Chair
• Dr Hezzy Olateru - Honorary Secretary
• Dr Judith Neaves - Treasurer

RCGP Cumbria Faculty have a number of board members who represent GPs from across Cumbria, as well as sub committees for Fellowship, equality, diversity and inclusion, social and wellbeing, and a representative for each career stage of GP. If you wish to come along to one of our board meetings you are welcome to do so.  Simply drop us a line and we will send you the invitation link to join the call.

Royal College of General Practitioners Bye Laws of the Cumbria Faculty

Amendments first draft 4.11.10

Aims of the Faculty

1. The Faculty represents the College in its area. It is established and shall be maintained within the framework of the College. Its aims and objects are identical with those of the College, and its organisation is designed to further such aims and objects within the area of the Faculty. It shall be bound by the Ordinances and Bye- Laws of the College for the time being in force.

Name and area of the Faculty

2. The Faculty shall be called the Cumbria Faculty. Its boundaries shall be co-terminous with those of Cumbria County Council. It shall be divided into two constituencies, called North Cumbria and South Cumbria. The North Cumbria constituency shall include the localities of Carlisle, Eden, Allerdale and Copeland. The South Cumbria constituency shall include the localities of Barrow in Furness and South Lakeland.

Membership of the faculty

3. The membership of the Faculty shall include all Fellows, Members and Associates whose addresses registered with the College are within the area of the Faculty, and other Fellows, Members or Associates whose registered addresses are outwith the boundaries of the Faculty, but who choose to join it. For the purpose of these Bye-laws, the term Associate will include those who are Associates in Training (AiT).

Rights of members and associates

4. 1. Members of the Faculty shall be entitled to receive all notices sent out by the Faculty, to attend, speak and vote at any General Meeting, and to participate in activities of the Faculty.
   2. Associates of the Faculty shall be entitled to receive all notices sent out by the Faculty, to attend any General meeting of the Faculty, and to participate in any activities of the Faculty. Associates appointed to the Faculty Board or any committee shall be appointed as observers, as Associates are not members of the College, they cannot vote.

5. Meetings of the Faculty

a1 Annual General Meetings

• An Annual General Meeting shall be held each year, and not more than fifteen months shall elapse between any two Annual General Meeting of the Faculty. At least twenty one days’ notice of the date and business of the Annual General Meeting shall be given in writing to each Fellow, Member and Associate of the Faculty.

The business at the Annual General Meeting shall be:

1. To receive, amend if necessary, and confirm the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting.
2. To receive the Annual Report of the retiring Board of the Faculty.
3. To receive the Annual Financial Statement and such additional financial statements as the College Council may have determined.
4. To elect a Provost of the Faculty, if necessary, who shall not hold this office for more than three years in succession.
5. To elect a new Board to the Faculty.
6. To elect a representative and Deputy Representative to the Council of the College.
7. To propose amendments to the Bye-Laws of the Faculty, if necessary.
8. To transact any other business of the Faculty.

1. A quorum shall consist of 12 Fellows and/or Members of the College who are members of the Cumbria Faculty. If, after 15 minutes after the designated time of the meeting, a quorum is not present, the meeting shall be abandoned and the Faculty Board may take such decisions as could have been taken by the Annual General Meeting and the provisions of theses Bye Laws shall apply as necessary.

The usual method of recording votes at the Annual General Meeting shall be by a show of hands. In the case of an equality of votes, the Chairman of the Meeting shall have a casting vote, in addition to his ordinary vote. In any matter of dispute, the Chairman’s decision shall be final.

a2 General Meetings

These shall be held where and when by the Board of the Faculty. At least 21 days’ notice of the date, place and business of such meetings shall be given in writing to each Fellow, Member and Associate of the Faculty.

a3 Extraordinary General Meetings

These shall be called by the Secretary on the instruction of the Board of the Faculty or on the written request of not less than 10 members of the Faculty, or on one third of the membership, whichever is less.

Not more than 28 days shall elapse between the receipt of the request for such a meeting and the date of the meeting.

At least 21 days' written notice of the date and place of the meeting shall be given to each Fellow, Member and Associate of the Faculty, stating the business to be discussed.

A resolution shall be passed only if voted for by a majority of not less than three quarters of those present and voting. An abstention shall not be considered to be a vote in such circumstances.

b. The accidental omission to give any Fellow, Member or Associate of the Faculty notice of a meeting shall not invalidate the proceedings at the meeting.

Conduct of General Meetings of the Faculty

6. 1. The Chairman of the Faculty if (s)he is present at the meeting shall take the chair. If (s)he is absent the Vice-chairman shall take the chair. If both are absent a chairman shall be elected by the membership from amongst their number for the duration of the meeting.
   2. The decisions of the meeting shall be arrived at by the votes of the majority of the membership present and voting.At an Extraordinary General Meeting, as already stated elsewhere in the byelaws, decision shall be arrived at by a three quarters majority of those present and voting.
   3. The normal method of recording votes shall be by a show of hands, but a secret ballot shall be held if majority of the members present and voting demand it.
   4. A quorum for a meeting shall be 12 members of the Faculty.
   5. In the event of an equality of votes for and against a motion, the Chairman shall have a casting vote in addition to his ordinary vote.
   6. In any matter of dispute in a meeting of the Faculty the decision of the Chairman shall be final.

The board of the Faculty

7. The management of the affairs of the Faculty shall be vested in a Board composed of the following persons:

1. Ex officio members

1. The Provost of the Faculty
2. Those members of the College Council who are members of the Faculty.
3. The immediate past Chairman of the Faculty.

b. Members of the Board of the Faculty

These shall number Fellows or Members of the College, or a combination of these categories, to a total of four from the North Cumbria Constituency, and to a total of two from the South Cumbria Constituency. These Board Members shall be elected by Fellows and Members living within the boundaries of their constituencies.

In addition, Fellows and Members or a combination of these categories, to a total of seven persons, shall be elected from the membership of the Faculty to serve on the Board of the Faculty. One of these members shall be a doctor in the first five years of general practice.

Also, three Associates in Training shall be elected to the Faculty Board, one from each Vocational Training Scheme in Cumbria as Observers.

All members of the Faculty Board, except the Provost, who is normally elected for three years, shall retire from office annually, but shall be eligible for re-election.

If a full number of members of the Board is not elected by the Faculty at the Annual General Meeting, or if a vacancy occurs on the Faculty Board, the Faculty Board shall have the power to appoint members to fill such vacancies until the next Annual General Meeting.

The Board may co-opt other persons for special purposes in an advisory capacity. A quorum of the Board shall consist of six members.

The first meeting of the Faculty Board shall be held immediately after the Annual General Meeting at which it is elected. Meetings of the Faculty Board shall be held at intervals of not more than three months.

The Board shall appoint committees for Education and Research, and any other committees as desired.

Each committee of the Board may co-opt, with the approval of the Faculty Board, members of the Faculty, or other persons who are not members of the Faculty or College. No one who is not a Fellow, Member or Associate of the College shall be entitled to vote on these committees.

Officers of the Board of the Faculty

8. The officers of the Board of the Faculty shall be a Chairman (who may not be the Provost of the Faculty,) Vice-chairman, Treasurer and Secretary. The officers shall be appointed by the Board from its members, and shall hold office until the end of the Annual General Meeting next after appointment. The Chairman may be re-elected up to a total period of three years in succession. A Vice chairman, Treasurer and Secretary shall be eligible for re-appointment annually.

Faculty Bye Laws

9. Provided that at least 21 days’ notice has been given to each member of the Faculty specifying the exact words of the proposed changes, alterations to, and deletions from, the Bye Laws may be proposed at the Annual General Meeting of the Faculty (or by signatories for an Extraordinary General Meeting,) and may be adopted by a majority of three quarters of those present and voting, abstentions not counting as votes, always provided that no such changes in the Bye Laws shall become effective, or come into operation, until approved by the Council of the College.
10. The Cumbria Faculty shall abide by these Bye Laws: -
11. Finances of the Faculty.
12. Secretarial arrangements of the Faculty.
13. Faculty Bye Laws

Which appear in the Appendix to the Royal Charter, Ordinances and Bye Laws of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Additional information useful at the AGM

Procedure for Annual General Meeting and First Faculty Board Meeting

At the start of the Annual General Meeting, the Faculty Chairman in post will open the meeting with apologies for absence.

The Chairman will stay in the Chair until the Election of Provost (Agenda item 8.)

Once a Provost has been elected. The Chairman will step down to allow the new Provost to take the Chair.

The Provost remains in the Chair until the end of the AGM and until the election of the Chairman at the first Faculty Board Meeting.

At this point the Chairman then takes over from the Provost to start the elections for the new Faculty Board.

If a new Provost has been elected, who is absent from the meeting. The past Provost can take over the Chair in his place.

Reviewed Summer 2012