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Posted: 15th June 2021

RCVS to adopt recommendations on future legislation
The consultation sought feedback from members of the profession and the public on how the professions are governed and regulated.
Agreement follows landmark consultation on the Legislation Working Party report.

RCVS Council has voted to adopt recommendations on future legislation that would enhance the role of the veterinary nurse, modernise RCVS registration and ensure the regulation of veterinary practices.

The agreement, reached at a meeting of RCVS Council on Thursday (10 June), follows a landmark consultation on legislative and disciplinary reforms that sought feedback on how the professions are governed and regulated.

The proposed changes, set out in the Legislation Working Party report (LWP), were developed over three years in response to concerns that current legislation is 'overly burdensome, prescriptive, and therefore no longer fit-for-purpose'.

In total, the consultation received 1,330 responses from veterinary professionals, industry bodies and members of the public. An analysis of the responses and recommendations is available in the final report at rcvs.org.uk/legislativereform

The acceptance of the recommendations means that they will now be formally adopted as RCVS policy and will inform discussions on the need for new legislation with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).

Professor Stephen May, who has chaired the LWP since its inception in 2017, thanked individuals and organisations for responding to the consultation. 

He added: “When the Legislation Working Party met to consider the responses and the report, it decided that, while no substantive changes needed to be made to the principle-based recommendations, the points raised both against and in favour of individual recommendations gave us important material for additional consideration, and food for thought as to how any detailed proposals would be implemented once enabling legislation is in place.

“We look forward to submitting these recommendations to Defra formally, with a view to them becoming, in time, a bill put before Parliament to replace the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966. In so doing, this would establish a modern, flexible and comprehensive piece of legislation that would make sure the regulatory structure for the veterinary professions is fit for purpose for decades to come.”

In addition to the LWP report, RCVS Council also discussed several measures that fit with the overall aims of future legislative changes but could be applied without primary legislation. Among these include:

  • the establishment of smaller-scale Preliminary Investigation Committees (mini PICs)
  • the establishment of a Charter Case Protocol where certain cases that meet the threshold for a full disciplinary hearing
  • changing the standard of proof in determining the facts of a case during a Disciplinary Committee hearing from the criminal to the civil standard.
While Council members voted in the majority for mini-PICs and the Charter Case Protocol, they were against implementing the change to the standard of proof at this time due to concerns about investigation and disciplinary procedures.



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