RCVS and VN Councils election results for 2016

We are delighted to announce the results of the 2016 RCVS Council and Veterinary Nurses (VN) Council elections, which see four current and two new members elected to RCVS Council and two new members elected to VN Council.

Current members Christopher Barker (2,838 votes), Amanda Boag (2,689 votes), Kit Sturgess (2,586 votes) and Stephen May (2,452 votes) were returned to four of the six available seats on RCVS Council.

Melissa Donald and Lucie Goodwin are joining Council for the first time with 2,532 votes and 2,307 votes respectively. The re-election of Stephen May means that he will serve as Junior Vice-President of the RCVS for 2016-17.

The two places available on VN Council will be taken by new members Matthew Rendle and Racheal Marshall who gained 547 votes and 537 votes respectively.

For veterinary surgeons 15.6% (or 4,403) of those eligible to vote did so compared to 18.1% last year.

For veterinary nurses the total number of those casting votes was higher than last year (1,435 compared to 1,379) but the overall turnout of 10.9% was slightly lower than last year when 11% of the profession cast votes.

Average turnouts over the past 10 years are 17.2% for RCVS Council and 8.8% for VN Council.

Eleanor Ferguson, our Acting Registrar, said: “I’d like to congratulate all those who were successfully elected, and re-elected, to Council, and thank all those who took part in this year’s elections – whether by standing as a candidate, casting a vote or submitting questions for the candidates to answer.”

Liz Cox, Chair of VN Council, added: “Many congratulations to the two brand new members of VN Council – I look forward to working with them over the coming years and seeing what they can bring to help drive the profession forward.”

All the successful candidates will take up their positions at RCVS Day – our Annual General Meeting and Awards Day – on Friday 15 July 2016 at the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Each candidate in both elections was invited to produce a short video in which they answered questions put to them by fellow members of the professions and which appeared on our YouTube channel.

The videos provided by the RCVS Council candidates received 1,169 views while those provided by the VN Council candidates received 779 views.

The 2016 RCVS and VN Council elections were run on behalf of the College by Electoral Reform Services.