At the Thursday 7 November 2024 meeting of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Council, members voted on a number of proposed changes to the College’s future governance structure. The agreed proposals will form part of the RCVS submission to government on replacing the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, and include an all-appointed RCVS Governing Council and retaining an elected veterinary element on a future council or committee which will report to RCVS Council.

Earlier this year, the RCVS conducted a ‘Good Governance’ public consultation, in which a number of reform proposals were put to members of the professions and the public for comment. The consultation received 734 responses, including 28 responses on behalf of representative veterinary bodies, companies and other groups.

A full report on the consultation, including analysis of the responses, was produced by an external agency and can be found in the papers for the Council meeting.

After considering the report, Council discussed in detail a number of proposals, including introducing an appointment process for all RCVS Council Members, retaining an elected veterinary element on a future council or committee that would report to RCVS Council, parity of professional and lay members, removal of Veterinary Schools’ Council appointees from Council, inclusion of allied professionals on Council, and separating the role of RCVS Council Chair from that of RCVS President.

Council members voted in favour of a fully-appointed governing Council and to explore retaining elected representation on a future council or committee focussed on upstream regulation and development of the profession (a proposal in the consultation that had received support from some respondents).

Council then voted to move towards greater parity between professional and lay RCVS Council members, while deferring a decision on the precise balance until the matter had been deliberated further.

Council also voted in favour of removing VSC appointees from Council, and agreed that further discussion would take place concerning the future composition of the RCVS Education Committee. Council further voted in favour of a fully-appointed VN Council.

Council then discussed a number of the alternative governance arrangement suggestions arising from submissions to the consultation, which had received varying levels of support from respondents. Two such proposals were for independent oversight of the College, and to review term limits across all appointed positions. Council voted to investigate these ideas further.

Regarding the remaining proposals, Council decided that these would benefit from further discussion and opted to defer voting on those to a later meeting.

Speaking of the outcome of the votes, RCVS President Linda Belton said: “Thank you to all who took part in the consultation and made suggestions on alternative and additional arrangements that might be made regarding our governance. Thank you also to Council members for a robust discussion of these proposals.

“We still have a number of important governance issues to discuss at a future date and the proposals that Council members have voted to approve today will not be brought into immediate effect, but will be included in our proposals to government for new veterinary legislation.

“As we seek reform of veterinary regulation via new primary legislation, it is important that our governance arrangements not only inspire public confidence and trust but also allow us, as a Royal College that regulates, to work with the professions on our upstream regulatory activities, not only to ensure that individuals are fit for practice, but also that we maintain a profession fit for purpose.

“The decision to explore retaining an elected element on a future veterinary council or committee, responsible for work dedicated to the development of the professions, gives a clear indication of the value of our ‘Royal College that regulates’ model. We have also made a further commitment to public assurance by agreeing to explore independent oversight of the RCVS.

“Any future appointments process developed by the RCVS will be committed to adhering to the Public Standards Authority’s principles on appointments; these are merit; fairness; transparency and openness; and inspiring confidence.”

The full papers for RCVS Council can be found here.

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