AMENDED TERMS OF REFERENCE

1. Title of the Organisation: The Allied Health Professions Forum Scotland (AHPFS)
2. Objectives
   • The AHPFS exists to foster collaboration and encourage liaison between the:
     Ambulance Service Association
     Art Therapies Advisory Group representing:
     • The British Association of Art Therapists
     • The British Dramatherapy Association
     • The Association of Professional Music Therapists
     The British Dietetic Association
     British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists
     British and Irish Orthoptic Society
     British Association/College of Occupational Therapists
     Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
     Institute of Biomedical Science
     Registration Council of Scientists in Health Care
     Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
     Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists
     Society and College of Radiography
   • To foster collaboration and liaison with the Allied Health Professions Educators Forum Scotland
3. Membership
   1. Membership is open to any professional association whose members are currently or prospectively registrants with the Health Professions Council (HPC), or who are already registered with the HPC.
   2. Admission to membership shall be by a majority decision from which not more than two member organisations dissent.
   3. At the discretion of the Forum, organisations who are in the process of applying for registration with the Health Professions Council may be given formal observer status.
   4. The AHPFS will be deemed quorate if 5 voting members, including the Convenor, are present.
4. Functions
   Ultimate authority rests with the Council of each member organisation as separate and ‘sovereign’ bodies. Any actions or decisions of the AHPFS will be authorised only by virtue of the Minutes of the AHPFS meetings. The AHPFS Secretariat exists only to execute the decisions of the Group and is not empowered to take independent action or exercise discretion beyond the limits set out in any given Minute.
   1. In order to aid clarity, agreements should ideally be reached on the basis of agreed texts – papers or resolutions – formally adopted by the AHPFS.
   2. Any decision to act should be contingent on agreement at or near consensus. Where more than two member organisations (whether or not present at the meeting) dissent from a stated view, the name and authority of the AHPFS may not be applied.
   3. The freedom of any member organisation to dissent from a proposed line of action is absolute, even in the event of agreement by the majority of other AHPFS members. This freedom also extends to retrospective reconsideration of prior agreements. That is, the Council of a member organisation has a right, on mature consideration, either to become party to an AHPFS agreement or withdraw from one.
5. Voting Each member organisation shall have one vote.
6. Convenor
   1. The Convenor will be elected from among the Representatives of member organisations and will hold office for 2 years, renewable for one further 2 year period only.
   2. The organisation providing the Convenor of AHPFS will be entitled to send an additional elected officer to meetings chaired by their representative.
7. Vice-Convenor
   • A Vice-Convenor will be elected from among the Representative of members organisations and will hold office for one year, renewable annually.
8. Professional Officers
   • Each member organisation is entitled to send one Professional Officer to each meeting of AHPFS. These officers are non-voting members of the Forum.

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