BVA calls for holistic approach to RCVS governance reform in its response to the College’s consultation

BVA’s policy position on RCVS governance reform forms the basis of its response to RCVS’s consultation on the issue, which closed last week (Monday 23 July). In its response, BVA outlined its key recommendations and underlined the importance of delivering them as a complete package of measures that will enhance transparency and accountability, ensuring RCVS remains a trusted and effective regulator.

BVA’s policy position on RCVS governance includes the following recommendations:

• RCVS Council members, both veterinary and lay, should be appointed rather than elected, following an open and competitive process and independent assessment against a clear set of competences.
• RCVS regulatory governance should be updated to align with best practice seen in human healthcare regulators. This includes reducing the number of Council members and ensuring a balanced composition of registrants and lay members, who are appointed based on clear competencies through an independent process.
• Allied professions regulated by RCVS should have their own dedicated Councils, similar to the existing VN Council.
• RCVS should commit to external scrutiny against similar standards to the Professional Standards Authority and publish the outcomes of that assessment in full.
• RCVS should strive for greater clarity and transparency of organisational identities, purposes, structure and governance, and communicate it effectively and consistently to the professions and the public.
• RCVS should articulate more clearly the activities which it considers to be Royal College and Regulatory functions, and the costs associated with each.
• A separate governing Council for the Royal College function should be established, with elected members. The Royal College Council should focus on the veterinary surgeons and veterinary nursing professions, while other allied professions should establish their own equivalent(s) of Royal College(s) if needed.

British Veterinary Association President Dr. Anna Judson said: “If we are to have a thriving veterinary profession, a new Veterinary Surgeons Act is vital and sitting alongside it we need a modern regulator with effective governance. BVA’s recommendations, if delivered as a holistic package, would bring greater clarity to the RCVS’s dual roles as both a regulator and a Royal College; they would improve transparency around process and decision-making, and would ensure that RCVS has the right balance of skills and experience needed to operate effectively, in line with similar modern healthcare regulators.

“We recognise the RCVS’s proposals are generating some debate within the profession, specifically around the appointment of RCVS Council members, as opposed to the current election process. Our working group explored this issue closely and after careful consideration we feel it is the right step for the College’s regulatory function that there is an appointed RCVS Regulatory Council comprising the skills and experience needed. However, this change must not be delivered in isolation. It is essential that our recommendations are implemented as an integrated package, including a separate elected Royal College Council, otherwise this will be a missed opportunity to put in place a modern and effective governance framework for RCVS.”

Read BVA’s policy position at www.bva.co.uk/take-action/our-policies/rcvs-governance/

Read BVA’s full response to the RCVS consultation at www.bva.co.uk/media/6002/response-to-rcvs-consultation-ensuring-good-governance.pdf