IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0120 SA/GOC
Held at: Wellcome Library
Title: General Optical Council
Date(s): 1959-2000
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 42 folders and 9 volumes in 13 boxes
Name of creator(s): General Optical Council
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The General Optical Council (GOC) is the statutory body which regulates the Optical professions (Dispensing Opticians and Optometrists). The GOC's main aims are to protect the public and promote high standards of professional conduct and education amongst Opticians. It was created following the Opticians Act 1958 in order to implement the provisions of the Act.
The powers and duties of the GOC are outlined in the Opticians Act 1989. They are responsible for registering Opticians, enrolling Bodies Corporate and maintaining and publishing registers and lists. In addition they approve training institutions and qualifications enabling registration and supervise training institutions and examinations, promoting proper professional conduct. The Council also prosecutes criminal offences under the Act in order to enforce the Act's provision in the public interest.
The GOC holds registers of Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians as well as lists of Bodies Corporate who carry on business as Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians. It is made up of a number of Committees, including the Education Committee, the Disciplinary Committee and the Standards Committee. They consist of representatives from the College of Optometrists, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, and the Association of British Dispensing Opticians, as well as Ophthalmic Training Institutions, Registered Ophthalmic Opticians and Registered Dispensing Opticians.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
General Optical Council administrative records, 1959-2000: minutes of the meetings of the Council and its various committees including related memos and correspondence, Annual Reports of the Council and Committees, Notices of Motion, Registers of Opticians and Lists of Corporate Bodies.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Arrangement is as follows:
SA/GOC/A: Minutes of the Council and its Committees
SA/GOC/B: Annual Reports
SA/GOC/C: Notices
SA/GOC/D: Registers and Lists
SA/GOC/E: Publications
Conditions governing access:
The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.
Finding aids:
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
The material was transferred to the Archives and Manuscripts Department in November 2001 by the General Optical Council. Accession 1596, additional committee minutes, were deposited in 2008.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.
Date(s) of descriptions: Jan 2008