Summary of decisions made at March 2015 RCVS Council

At its meeting on Thursday 5 March RCVS Council agreed a number of decisions including allowing the use of the courtesy title ‘Doctor’ for veterinary surgeons and setting up a panel to look into changes to the College’s governance structure.

Full papers for the Council meeting are available on request.

Committee changes

President Professor Stuart Reid updated Council members on the appointment of new chairs and vice-chairs to the Disciplinary and Preliminary Investigation Committees.

He confirmed that, as of 1 July 2015, Dr Ian Green would be Chair of the Disciplinary Committee with Professor Alistair Barr as veterinary Vice-Chair and Chitra Karve as lay Vice-Chair. For the Preliminary Investigation Committee he confirmed that Andrew Ash would be Chair and Harvey Locke Vice-Chair, also starting from 1 July. 

From July 2015, the two statutory committees will be constituted separately from the membership of RCVS Council, in accordance with the legislative reform order passed in 2013. 

It was also confirmed that Professor Joanna Price, an appointed member of Council from the University of Bristol, will take up the position of Chair of the Education Committee from July, replacing Chris Tufnell, and that David Catlow will continue as Chair of Standards Committee.

CEO update

Nick Stace, CEO, gave members an update on various undertakings by the Operational Board and the College since Council last met in November 2014.

Among the topics discussed was an extension to the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) trial, the annual renewal process, the College’s recent pledge of £1 million to address mental health and wellbeing issues and his and the President’s recent trip to meet members of the RCVS in Hong Kong and Australia.

College Honours and Awards

President Stuart Reid informed Council that the recipient of this year’s Queen’s Medal, the highest honour that we can bestow upon a veterinary surgeon in recognition of outstanding achievement, was Lord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior.

He also informed Council that the following honorary associateships and honorary fellowships by election would be bestowed by the College:

Honorary Fellowships:

• Alistair Mclaren Lawrie BVMS MRCVS, general practitioner and contributor to animal welfare in Scotland
• Professor Donald Francis Kelly BVSc MA PhD FRCPath DipIECVP MRCVS, veterinary pathologist
• Gordon Nicholson Henderson BSc MRCVS, whose career has been in veterinary marketing

Honorary Associateships:

• Dr Michael James Francis
• Catherine Anne Phillips
• Phillip Sketchley

All the awards will be made at RCVS Day – our Annual General Meeting and Awards Day – on Friday 10 July.

Draft accounts 2014

Council agreed the draft College accounts for 2014. The accounts will be made available for all members of the RCVS to view in June.

Governance

Council agreed to set up a panel, comprising Professor Stephen May, Richard Stephenson, Andrea Jeffery as well as a lay member (later confirmed as Richard Davis), to work with the Operational Board to develop a consultation document setting out the rationale for reform with proposed options for restructuring the governance system.

The panel will report back at RCVS Council’s June meeting and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is likely to consult with the profession and the public thereafter.

‘Doctor’ consultation

Council agreed to give veterinary surgeons in the UK permission to use the courtesy title ‘Doctor’.

Committee reports

Council members heard reports from VN Council and the Audit and Risk, Education, Standards, Preliminary Investigation and Disciplinary Committees.

Election of officer team

Dr Bradley Viner was elected President of the RCVS for 2015/16, while Chris Tufnell was elected as Vice-President (Junior). Both terms are subject to formal appointment on RCVS Day where current President Stuart Reid will take up the position of Vice-President (Senior).