An update on the first RCVS Council meeting of the year

On Thursday 16 January 2025, RCVS Council convened online for its first meeting of the year. The meeting saw a larger number of MRCVSs attending than usual – a trend that we hope will continue throughout 2025 and beyond.

However, we understand that attending Council meetings is not feasible for most, so we are going to be providing updates on the discussions before and after they take place throughout the year.

The January 2025 open session agenda had two matters for decision by RCVS Council members and one matter to note, alongside an update from the CEO and various standing committees (more information on which can be found in the Council papers).

Matters for decision were as follows:

• The minutes from the previous meeting (open session)
• Council culture (open session)

Matters to note were:

• Eligibility of veterinary graduates from European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE) approved/accredited schools for RCVS registration

Matters for decision (open session)

Minutes

The minutes from the previous meeting were accepted as a true record by Council.

Council culture

RCVS Council was also asked to comment on aspects of a paper considering Council culture. The paper provided a summary of the actions agreed by Council in relation to its effectiveness, along with a reminder of the survey results completed by RCVS Council in 2023 following recommendations made by the Council Culture Working Group (CCWG).

Council was requested to complete the survey again and confirm that documents from the Council Culture Working Group (CCWG) and agreed by Council remain fit for purpose, including the Code of Conduct for Council (and Committee) Members, as well as the complaints procedure – both of which are up for review.

The paper also provided job descriptions for Officer and Committee Chair roles, with nominations currently requested from within Council for specific roles. These are:

• Junior Vice President
• Treasurer
• Chair of the Advancement of the Professions Committee
• Chair of the Education Committee
• Chair of the Standards Committee

Council was asked to confirm that the Code of Conduct for Council (and committee) members attached at Annex B to the paper, and the policy for dealing with complaints against Council (and committee) members attached at Annex C to the paper, remained fit for purpose.

On this Council members voted: 18 yes, 0 no, 2 abstain (the vote was out of 20, taking apologies into account).

For more on this topic, see pages 47 – 74 of the Council papers.

Matters to note

Eligibility of veterinary graduates from European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE) approved/accredited schools for RCVS registration

Post EU exit and the end of the mutual recognition of professional qualifications regime, veterinary graduates from EU schools were no longer eligible to register to work in the UK, with potentially a significant impact on the UK veterinary workforce.
As a result, in 2019, RCVS Council made a temporary policy decision, reviewed annually, to continue to recognise graduates from schools with approval/accreditation by EAEVE.

In January 2024, Council agreed that the policy should remain in place, but for a maximum of five years. Therefore, as it stands, the policy will end in January 2029.

However, in addition to approval of the continuation of the temporary policy, Council was keen to see proposals for a longer-term solution – specifically, plans for direct accreditation of European schools by the RCVS.

Council last reviewed the issue in March 2024 and agreed that we would approach European vet schools to offer RCVS accreditation according to criteria associated with their estimated impact on the UK veterinary workforce, and the likelihood of them being able to achieve successful accreditation status.

Following further negotiations with EAEVE, it has now been agreed that, when requested by the school, the RCVS can send representatives on EAEVE accreditation visits in order to reduce accreditation costs and make the proposition of direct RCVS accreditation more attractive. The accreditation visit outcome however, would remain independent for each accrediting body.

At the January 2025 Council meeting, RCVS Council were asked to discuss the progress with direct accreditation of EU veterinary programmes.

It was noted that while progress on this initiative will be slow, with one school confirmed to be applying for RCVS accreditation in 2025 and a current waiting list for 2026, things are moving forward with any potential challenges being considered along the way.

More detail about the RCVS accreditation of veterinary programmes in the EU, and a flowchart detailing how the RCVS can align with the EAEVE visitation processes, can be found in the papers for the Council meeting (pages 41 - 46).

The next RCVS Council meeting

The next meeting of RCVS Council will be on Thursday 13 March at the Royal College of Nursing, London.

If you wish to attend, either in-person or online, please email RCVS Council Secretary Dawn Wiggins on [email protected]. Please note that in-person spaces are limited.