Professional Discipline & Regulatory E-bulletin April 2010

Welcome to the Spring 2010 edition of our Professional Discipline & Regulatory E-bulletin which looks at recent decisions of the courts and rounds up some of the news from the regulatory bodies.

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Standard of proof S-B Children [2009] UKSC The change from the criminal to the civil standard of proof for bodies such as the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council led to debate among practitioners as to just how the civil standard of the balance of probabilities was to be applied, particularly in cases where the charges were very serious. One interpretation which had grown up from Re H [1996] AC 563 was that there was a 'heightened' standard of proof in such situations. Another view was that where an event was improbable, then the more cogent was the evidence required in order to prove it. The debate was largely brought to an end with the two decisions of the House of Lords, Re B [2009] AC 11 and Re H [2009] EWCA Civ 1048. In Re B it was said there was no necessary connection between seriousness and inherent probability. It was emphasised by Lady Hale that: "...the simple balance of probabilities test should be applied." Any remaining issues have been put beyond doubt in the seven judge Supreme Court decision in the case of S-B Children [2009] UKSC 17 where Lady Hale at para. 13 said that the nostrum...