RCVS receives green light for action on legislation

Changes to the Veterinary Surgeons Act are in the pipeline. Jim Paice MP, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, has told us that he intends to make a legislative reform order amending the constitution of the Preliminary Investigation and Disciplinary Committees to ensure greater independence from Council.

At the moment the Preliminary Investigation Committee consists of six members of the RCVS Council, while the Disciplinary Committee is made up of 12 Council members.

Back in 2003, the College published a consultation paper which talked rather cautiously about making the disciplinary machinery more independent of the RCVS Council.

After much debate and two further consultations, in 2005 and 2009, Council decided a year ago that the Act ought to be changed so that Council members no longer sit on the Disciplinary Committee.

Following further discussion, Council came to the view that this should apply equally to the Preliminary Investigation Committee, so that both Committees are composed of independent outside people (both veterinary surgeons and lay people).

This proposition was put to the Minister at a meeting in September, and he has given the go-ahead for an amendment to the Act.

The new composition of the Committees will help to assure all who are concerned with disciplinary proceedings, and the wider public, that the decisions taken are fair and objective. It will also give more flexibility when hearings have to be arranged: the workload can be heavy, and as the Act stands there is not much scope for spreading the load.

The mechanism for making the necessary change to the Act will be an order under section 2 of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006. The order will need to be approved by Parliament, but the procedure is relatively streamlined compared with the making of a new Act.

The Minister has also invited the us to develop proposals for longer-term reform of the Veterinary Surgeons Act, with a view to making better arrangements for the regulation not only of veterinary surgeons but also of veterinary nurses and technicians.