The Committee’s veterinary sector report called for an independent regulator, support for rural-based practices in handling the CMA’s remedies, and support for veterinary education. 

 

A response from Defra recognised a need to understand any ‘potential unintended consequences’ of the CMA’s remedies for smaller or more rural veterinary practices. It said it would ensure new regulations regarding the Veterinary Surgeons Act were ‘proportionate’.

 

Meanwhile the CMA agreed that its remedies ‘should not impose disproportionate burdens’ on such practices, promising to ‘work closely’ with practices to meet compliance. It said it would keep its measures under review, and suggested it might withdraw remedies that prove ineffective.

 

However, the CMA stopped short of committing to the EFRA committee’s calls for a review to be published 18 months after the remedies’ introduction.

 

Defra also confirmed that the RCVS would remain the sector’s regulator, ensuring a ‘clear, internal split between the regulatory and professional leadership arms’. It did, however, propose an ‘independent and impartial’ ombudsman to resolve disputes between animal owners and practices.

 

Meanwhile, the EFRA committee says that Defra had declined to review the grant funding provided to veterinary colleges. It has also rejected the Committee’s recommendation for it to ‘make it easier for vets to work in the UK from abroad’.

 

However, Defra did confirm that it would publish a workforce strategy for the veterinary sector by the end of March 2027. It claimed that this would satisfy calls for an in-depth review into high attrition and low recruitment in the sector.

 

Alistair Carmichael MP, EFRA committee chair, said: “We note the CMA’s assurance that it will review, and may change, any remedies that prove ineffective. We will keep our eyes and ears open to the experience of small, rural and mixed veterinary businesses and we will speak up for them if evidence emerges of the CMA’s measures proving overly burdensome. 

 

“It is deeply disappointing to see continued denial of the crisis affecting veterinary education, which is becoming unsustainable financially. The veterinary sector is being squeezed on two fronts, with a recruitment pipeline threatened by visa restrictions and a gloomy outlook for veterinary colleges. We await the workforce strategy due in six months’ time, but there is no two ways about it: Ministers will have to find a way to put money into veterinary courses and do so before we see places cut and courses close.”