Regulating counselling and psychotherapy via HPC

Excerpts from the HPC doc. I include it here because I am surprised by the rather grand way it states its right to intervene in other people's practise in the name of public safety without saying what that means nor why they (the HPC) are less of a threat than any one else. There are many questions begged by this document which I hope to gradually unpack.

Introduction
We are seeking the views of stakeholders on the potential statutory regulation of psychotherapists and counsellors.
About us:
We are the Health Professions Council (HPC). We are a regulator and our job is to protect the health and wellbeing of people who use the services of the health professionals registered with us. To protect the public, we set standards that health professionals must meet. Our standards cover health professionals’ education and training, behaviour, professional skills, and their health. We publish a Register of health professionals who meet our standards.

Health professionals on our Register are called ‘registrants’. If registrants do not meet our standards, we can take action against them which may include removing them from the Register so that they can no longer practise.

About statutory regulation
• Statutory regulation of psychotherapists and counsellors
In February 2007, the government published a White Paper on the future of regulation, ‘Trust, Assurance and Safety – The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century’.
The White Paper said: ‘The government is planning to introduce statutory regulation
for…psychotherapists and counsellors…’ (page 81) ‘…psychotherapists and counsellors will be regulated by the Health Professions Council, following that Council’s rigorous process of assessing their regulatory needs and ensuring that its system is capable of accommodating them. This will be the first priority for future regulation.’ (page 85)
Subject to the necessary legislative approval, the White Paper indicated that psychotherapists and counsellors would be regulated by the HPC in the future.
We are therefore undertaking this project in anticipation of that legislative approval. [emphasis added] However, please note that the outcome will be subject to any final decisions made by the UK and Scottish Parliaments.