Governance reform

In May 2018 a Legislative Reform Order (LRO) was laid before Parliament which reformed our governance arrangements to improve the efficiency and accountability of our Council’s decision-making processes. Over a three-year transition period the LRO will almost halve the number of Council members and formalise lay and veterinary nurse membership.

The new composition of our Council will lead to an overall reduction from 42 to a maximum of 24 members, made up of:

• 13 elected veterinary surgeons to ensure an overall majority of elected members; 
• 6 lay people, appointed by an independent panel;
• 3 members collectively representing UK veterinary schools, reduced from 14 current members drawn from each of the seven accredited UK schools. These will be appointed by Veterinary Schools Council; 
• 2 veterinary nurse positions appointed by VN Council.

The new terms and conditions of office are:

• elected Council members will serve a term of office of 4 years, but a maximum limit of 3 consecutive terms has been introduced, with a mandatory 2 year break before a person can stand again;
• a mechanism will be introduced so that Council members may be removed for issues relating to poor conduct or behaviour.