Report of the Council for the Year 1997

This report covers the calendar year 1997, whereas previous reports covered the periods up to the AGM each year. This change has been made because of the requirements of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 1995. The report now has to cover the same period as the financial report which, in the case of SRP, is the calendar year.

COUNCIL

The Council of the Society met on five occasions during the year.

Membership was as follows:

Miss M J Minski	President	(From AGM 1997)
Dr M W Charles	President	(Until AGM 1997)
Dr R Coates	Immediate Past President	(Until AGM 1997)
Dr G J Hunt	President-Elect	(From AGM 1997)
Mr A Knight	Secretary
Mr M C Renouf	Treasurer
Dr P J Allisy-Roberts		(Until AGM 1997)
Mr B P Bleasedale
Mr D B Drury	Associate Representative
Miss F A Fry		(From AGM 1997)
Mr E P Goldfinch	Affiliate Representative
Miss P E Powell
Mr K B Shaw
Mr R Storrie
Dr M C Thorne		(From AGM 1997)

Non-voting members:

Mr P F Beaver	Chairman, Qualifications & Professional Standards Committee
Dr M Marshall	Secretary, Programme Committee
Dr R Wakeford	Journal Editor	(From May 1997)
Mr G C Meggitt	Journal Editor	(Until May 1997)
Mr H C Orchard	Chairman, Membership Committee

Much of the work of Council is concerned with consideration of reports from the Society's Committees. Summaries of each committee's activities are given in this report.

As reported last year, Council decided that two subject-based topic groups should be set up focusing on (1) practical health physics and (2) regulations, legislation and standards. Council have appointed Dr J D Marshall of the Environment Agency as Chairman of the topic group on Regulations, Legislation and Standards. Other members of the co-ordinating committee for this topic group are Dr J R Gill, Mrs C Griffiths, Dr K G Harrison, Mr D K Owen, Dr C R Williams and Mr G Zabierek. Mr A R Richards of the University Hospital of Wales has been appointed as Chairman of the second topic group on Practical Radiation Protection. Members of the co-ordinating committee for this topic group will be appointed early in 1998.

The Society now has an E-mail address with the domain name srp-uk.org. The ad hoc group dealing with these matters has also considering the establishment of a Home Page on the World Wide Web and other ways in which the INTERNET can be used. A specification for an SRP web site has been prepared and has been issued to three prospective web publishers.

Tessa Berry Associates have continued to provide administrative support from their office in London. Council are very pleased with the arrangement. Council Meetings and many of the Society's committee meetings are now held in Ramillies House near Oxford Circus tube station.

There has been an increase in demand for the Society's Placement Service during the year and 10 advertisements have been distributed compared to 16 in 1996. Cost of the Service remains £300 when the advertisement is issued with the Newsletter and £450 at other times. Requests for the Society's leaflet 'A career in radiation protection' continue to be made by Universities, Schools and Local Authority Careers Offices.

MEMBERSHIP

As at 31st December 1997 the membership totalled 1118 made up of 10 Honorary Fellows, 50 Fellows, 902 Members, 23 Graduate Members, 93 Associates, 16 Students and 24 Affiliates. There were 56 new members during the year and the number leaving through death, resignation and lapsed subscription was 37, giving a net increase of 19 (the equivalent figure for the year to 31 March 1997 was 8). There are currently 104 overseas members. The Membership Committee functions primarily by correspondence.

During the past year, Council has had to record, with deep regret, the death of Surg Capt C O le Hughes and Mr A E Shaw.

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME

Four Scientific Meetings took place during the year, in January, April, September and November. The two-day meeting with the Annual General Meeting was held in St Catherine's College, Oxford in April and 118 were registered to attend, considerably below the record of the previous year. The January and November meetings, in conjunction with exhibitions, took place at the Cavendish Conference Centre, London with registrations of 115 and 94 respectively for what were rather specialised meetings. The September meeting was a new departure for the Society in recent years as it was a one-day meeting held outside London: it was held at CEFAS, Lowestoft and attracted a gratifying 90 registrations. In addition two NVQ tutorials were held in London and Leeds in July.

The January meeting was on the somewhat specialised topic of 'Progress in internal dosimetry for internal contamination'. The programme was arranged by Dr M C Thorne and aimed to educate those less familiar with the topic as well as providing up-to-date information. A series of papers covered the derivation of dose-per-unit-intake values for internal emitters both historically and using state-of-the-art biokinetic and dosimetric models. Other presentations were concerned with screening and monitoring, overall programmes and specific techniques and were relevant to the nuclear industry and medical applications of radioactive materials.

The two-day meeting, entitled 'Human factors, motivation, training and certification' was organised by Dr C A Perks. It provided an opportunity for presentations and discussions on the influence of human factors on radiation safety. The roles and responsibilities of both organisations and individuals and responsibilities for training were considered. Appropriate methods for continuing improvement, learning from experience and formal accreditation were discussed.

The meeting at Lowestoft in September was held as part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations of operations at the CEFAS (formerly MAFF) laboratory. The programme was organised by Mr D Jackson while Dr G J Hunt co-ordinated the local arrangements. The meeting was concerned with the objectives, strategy and allocation of resources for environmental monitoring and drew on the experience of many organisations. The role and priorities of regulators and operators were considered, particularly in the context of declining levels of environmental radioactivity and doses. Future requirements for monitoring for regulatory and public reassurance purposes, together with the end use of monitoring results were discussed.

Dr K Faulkner organised the November meeting on 'Medical exposures, health surveillance and the patient protection directive'. The meeting was arranged to coincide with the final stages of preparation by the European Commission of the Medical Exposures Directive which will replace the Patient Directive. The meeting covered the medical aspects of radiation protection. It addressed the fundamental issues and implications of the new directive with specific practical examples and consideration of its implementation into national law. The medical implications of health surveillance and the medical response to radiation emergencies were also considered.

In 1998 the Society will be arranging one two-day and three one-day Scientific Meetings including a one-day meeting at Berkeley Centre in September. The topic for the January 1998 meeting is 'Non-ionising radiation - electromagnetic fields'. The two-day meeting in 1998 is entitled 'Developments in operational health physics'. This meeting sees another departure from recent practice in that it will be held in Birmingham and will include an exhibition as well as being the venue for the AGM. A meeting in June will be concerned with radiation emergency preparedness - implications of the basic standards directive. The meeting outside London, at Berkeley, is being arranged on decommissioning; a visit to Berkeley site will be arranged in conjunction with the meeting.

Seminars on the Ionising Radiations Regulations and Basic Safety Standards are planned for May following issue of the HSE Consultative Document. The Society continues to arrange smaller meetings, workshops and tutorials. A further tutorial on NVQs is envisaged. Regional meetings are being planned in the north-west (Heysham, 4th March) and Scotland.

CERTIFICATION

The Joint Certification Scheme has continued to operate with IPEM and AURPO. During the year an approach was received from the Institute of Radiation Protection (IRP) asking to become a participating member of the scheme. This approach has been welcomed by the existing participants and it is hoped to successfully complete negotiations in 1998. This would have the advantage of a single unified scheme for the whole of the UK.

Since January applicants have had to conform to the new requirements as described in last years report. For those wishing to renew their certificates before 2002 it was recognised that it would not be possible for them to complete a CPD record backdated 5 years and interim arrangements have been made; up to August 1999 they are required to provide a limited portfolio of evidence covering their work in the preceding three years; between then and 2002 participation in a CPD scheme over the preceding three years will be accepted.

At the end of the year there were 76 members and 2 non-members holding fully valid certificate through SRP, with a further 14 awaiting renewal, an overall reduction of 7. During the year 2 new and 7 renewed certificates were granted. 2 applications and 1 renewal were refused.

Changes to the membership of the panel during the year were -

Leaving	Mr I R Devine, term of office expired;
	Prof E D Williams, IPEM
Appointed	Mr G Zabierek, AURPO
	Mrs C Griffiths, IPEM

Council decided, in the interests of greater continuity, to change the basis on which the Chairman is appointed and to discontinue the practice of the Immediate Past President automatically holding that post, and they have therefore appointed Mr R W Anderson as Chairman until 2001.

BRITISH RADIATION PROTECTION ASSOCIATION (BRadPA) AND INTERNATIONAL RADIATION PROTECTION ASSOCIATION (IRPA)

BRadPA

Dr R H Corbett (BIR) took over as Chairman of the association from Dr J K Haywood (IPEM) in March. Miss M J Minski (SRP) took over as Honorary Treasurer from Dr L K Harding. Dr R Coates (SRP) continued in the role of Honorary Secretary.

Following the agreement in November 1966 to work towards the disbanding of BRadPA, work focused with our partner societies, including the Institute of Radiation Protection who joined BRadPA at the beginning of 1997, on developing arrangements for the new SRP International Committee. The necessary rule changes were agreed at the SRP AGM and were overwhelmingly accepted in a ballot of members. By the end of 1997 arrangements were fully in place to disband BRadPA, with the final meeting of the BRadPA Council being held on 11th November. All funds have been used to pay the appropriate IRPA subscriptions which were due by the end of 1997, with a small deficit being made up by SRP. Notification of the proposed future arrangements were sent to IRPA (by SRP and BRadPA). Broad arrangements were agreed for the future operation of the International Committee, including linking the time cycle of office holders to provide alignment with IRPA's four yearly cycle.

SRP will have six nominations to the new International Committee for 1998. It was agreed that these nominations should be broadly spread across the various functional interests represented within SRP. Council have appointed to the Committee Dr P J Allisy-Roberts, Mr P F Beaver, Dr R Coates, Miss F A Fry, Miss M J Minski and Mr R I Storrie.

Arrangements were agreed to develop co-operation between the partner societies on other matters beyond international affairs wherever there was a direct benefit from such co-operation. Amongst other issues the SRP secretariat will maintain a 'clearing house' listing dates of relevant radiological protection scientific meetings from the societies.

At the final meeting of the BRadPA Council the Chairman thanked SRP for the time, trouble and patience that had been taken in bringing forward the new arrangements. He also thanked all those people who had been involved over the lifespan of BRadPA including those at the start who had set up the arrangements and those who had sat on Council over the years. He looked forward to the new arrangements with the SRP International Committee and gave best wishes for the future.

IRPA

Support and suggestions have been provided to Dr R Coates who has been nominated as a member of the scientific programme committee for the forthcoming IRPA 10 Congress in Hiroshima, Japan in the year 2000.

A standards document was received from ICNIRP via IRPA on which the association was asked for comment. On the timescale available it did not prove possible for any society to offer technical comment on the document.

Other International Issues

The Society supported a request from the South African society to help fund attendance by African delegates at the South African Congress at Cape Town in June 1997.

The Society contributed through BRadPA to a review undertaken by the German-Swiss Radiation Protection Society on the topic 'Radiation protection in Europe - how unified are we?'. A series of articles on this theme from various European Countries was published in the journal of the German-Swiss society.

JOURNAL

Volume 17 of the Journal saw the publication of eighteen papers, six notes and one memorandum. A wide variety of topics continues to be covered by articles. Of particular interest in the four issues of 1997 was the critical review by Professor Leo Kinlen and his colleagues , of studies of childhood leukaemia around Sellafield, taking a specific interest in the role of infection, which appeared in the June issue. In the September issue, a paper by Professor V K Ivanov and his colleagues from Russia was published, which concerned leukaemia among the Chernobyl "clean-up" workers and which found no convincing evidence of a raised risk. Also in this issue, a paper by Dr M P Little and collaborators appeared which examined the variations of radiation-induced solid cancer risk with time and age. These two papers were accompanied by invited editorials by recognised authorities in these fields. The topical issue of the safety of scanned laser beams was addressed by a paper in the December issue from Dr D A Corder and his colleagues, and this paper was also accompanied by an invited editorial. It is to be hoped that the Journal will continue to be the home of high quality papers covering a range of interests of relevance to radiological protection.

Mr G C Meggitt and Mr F Phillips completed their five-year terms of office as Honorary Editor and Deputy Editor respectively. They have maintained the high standard of the Journal during this period and the Council thanks them for their sterling work. They were replaced by Dr R Wakeford as Honorary Editor and Mr J Gray as Deputy Editor.

The Editorial Board met four times during the year. Mr A R Richards of the University Hospital of Wales left on expiry of his appointment and Dr M W Charles of the University of Birmingham joined. Tessa Berry Associates continued to supply valuable administrative assistance to the Editorial Board.

IOP Publishing maintains a high quality of service in publishing the Journal. Mr A D Evans, as ever, provides a highly professional role in the production of the Journal, and he has been joined on the Editorial Board by Dr P Craven as Publishing Editor.

BURSARY AWARDS

Following the recommendations of the Bursary Awards Committee who considered several applications, Council agreed to award the SRP Scholarship (fees plus living expenses) to Miss S Dhanse for the MSc course in Medical Physics (Industrial option) at University College, London. The SRP Studentship (fees plus £500) was awarded to Ms C Bokou for the MSc course in Medical Physics at the University of Surrey. The award winners have been invited to the Scientific meeting and AGM to be held in Birmingham.

STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE

The committee met twice during the year, in March and October. It is still not anticipated that meetings will need to be more frequent until the work of the three ad hoc committees is completed and they are disbanded. A number of topics initiated by and previously being dealt with by the original Long Term Planning Committee (now the Strategic Planning Committee) were allocated to the ad hoc committees for development in depth and their final reports are expected shortly.

Towards the end of the 1995/96 year the committee had finalised proposals for a mechanism to enable the Society to respond to requests from external bodies for 'official' views of the Society on various issues, ranging from scientific/technical matters to those of a more sensitive political nature. The required timescale for responses to such requests can vary from a few days to a few months, or more, and the response mechanism developed recognises this. The mechanism now adopted by Council allows responses by the President, for urgent matters, and the development of more comprehensive views by consultation within Council, or beyond, for the longer term requirements. The Strategic Planning Committee has now provided more detailed guidelines for application of the mechanism, recognising that the interests of members are sufficiently diverse that a consolidated view on many scientific issues would not be appropriate, and that on many other issues it would be difficult to develop. In general, the Society should demonstrate a continued interest in being consulted, even if, ultimately, only equivocal views can be offered.

The Committee has reviewed the charitable expenditure of the Society and has made a number of recommendations which are being followed, such as the support of young persons attending scientific meetings, the expansion of the bursary scheme to include a new category of fully supported SR. Scholarship, and support of both SRP members and scientists from poorer countries at IRPA International Congresses. One additional proposal, accepted in principle by Council, is the establishment of a Career Break Sponsorship Scheme, whereby scientists having had an essential break in their careers, and then being able to return, may receive sponsorship in some form to facilitate their return. The Strategic Planning Committee is developing the principle into a viable practical scheme including estimations of costs, to be considered by Council for adoption.

The Committee has, in the past, recommended the establishment of a regular (perhaps eventually annual) SRP Congress of 3 days duration, including presentation of a keynote address and a limited number of proffered papers. Whilst the proposal has not found universal acceptance because of the risk that some potential delegates may have difficulty in attending for three days, Council has agreed to try the proposal for the year 2001. A strong school of thought suggests that such a regular feature may significantly enhance the status of the Society, especially in relation to the achievement of Chartered status, discussed below. A keynote address will be introduced for the two-day meeting in 2000 by way of introduction of the idea.

The Committee takes its remit to review the minutes of all of the SRP committees to ensure that the SRP Objects and Objectives are constantly being followed seriously, the main ones being the ultimate achievement of Chartered status and satisfactory furtherance of radiological protection within and outside the UK. However, with the demise of BRadPA it is now felt that a further attempt to attain Chartered status should be made and the Strategic Planning Committee has been asked to develop a plan of action.

QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS COMMITTEE

The committee met six times during the year which saw the culmination of two of the major items which have concerned them for the past two years, namely the accreditation in April of the NVQ in Radiation Protection and the introduction in July of the Society's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme. During the year Council appointed Mrs W P Bines to the committee.

Following the accreditation of the NVQ two workshops were held, in London and Leeds, to introduce potential users, particularly employers and other organisations who might want to become 'Assessment Centres', to the requirements of the NVQ system in general and the Radiation Protection Qualification in particular. To date City and Guilds, the approved awarding body, have only produced the necessary documentation for Level 2 and the committee is continuing to put pressure on them, as well as offering assistance where possible, to do the same for Levels 3 and 4 as soon as possible. One of the requirements for the successful implementation of the NVQ is the quality and the consistency of the assessments and the Society has helped in this matter by contracting an experienced member to write the necessary technical guidance for the assessors. It is intended that this will be completed by March 1998.

The Society's CPD scheme was launched in July. The use of CPD as a tool for professionals to maintain and enhance their skills is now an accepted fact and many professional societies offer such schemes to their members. Although the successful participation in such a scheme will be a requirement for those renewing their Certification of Competence after August 1999 the scheme is intended for all members. The committee is charged with keeping the scheme under review and it is intended to carry out a survey of users after one year; in the meantime comments are welcome. To date 110 members, 39 with certificates, have joined.

The committee has continued to examine and comment on the HSE proposals, to be incorporated in the revised Ionising Radiations Regulations (IRRs), for the intended qualifications required of those wishing to act as Radiation Protection Advisers (RPAs). In particular they have considered the possible impact on the operation of the Joint Certification Scheme. This work will be continued in 1998 as the proposals are developed.

Following a request from Council the Society's leaflet 'A Career in Radiation Protection' was reviewed and updated. The committee recommended that Council consider a more thorough rethink of the objective, target audience and layout of the leaflet.

SOUTHPORT 1999

Southport is the venue for the Society's international symposium from 14th to 18th June 1999. The Organising Committee has arranged facilities for the scientific meeting and technical exhibition in the main theatre complex. There will be a full social programme for accompanying persons together with a reception, dinner and other social events for all participants.

The title of the Symposium is 'Achievements and Challenges: Advancing Radiation Protection into the 21st Century'. There has already been a good response from possible participants and exhibitors following distribution of the first announcement. A comprehensive scientific programme is being prepared by the Symposium Programme Committee. The call for abstracts is being prepared and should be circulated early in 1998. It will be a meeting that looks ahead in all areas of radiation protection with top Keynote Speakers, topic sessions and poster presentations. Members are urged to fully support this symposium to ensure its success.

ELECTORAL COMMITTEE

As a result of the 1996/97 Council election, Dr G J Hunt was elected as president-elect for 1997/98, Mr A Knight was elected (unopposed) as Secretary for the period 1997/99, Miss F A Fry and Dr M C Throne were elected as Council Members for the period 1997/2000 and Mr D B Drury was elected (unopposed) as Associate Representative for the period 1997/2000. 42% of those entitled to vote voted.

RULES

As reported last year, changes to the Constitution, Regulations and Bye-law were required as a result of recent Charities Acts, and to incorporate International members and Partner Societies. Motions concerning these matters were approved at the AGM and were overwhelmingly accepted in a ballot of Full Members. The Rules Committee have made the subsequent changes necessary including renumbering and have checked the text prior to final printing. The new version of the rules will be available and sent to all members including International members from Partner Societies in 1998.