Recent record number of candidates announced for this year’s RCVS Council election

The largest number of candidates for more than 25 years will be standing in this year’s RCVS Council election, with 20 veterinary surgeons standing for the four available elected places on the College’s governing body.

The election to RCVS Council will take place next month alongside the RCVS Veterinary Nurses (VN) Council election, where three veterinary nurse candidates will stand for the two elected places available on that body.

RCVS Council is the governing body responsible for deciding on major issues relating to the regulation of the veterinary professions including strategy, professional standards, education, registration, and projects to help advance the professions.

This year’s candidates are:

• Dr Louise Allum MRCVS
• Dr Sam Bescoby MRCVS
• Dr Andrew Clemence MRCVS
• Dr Tshidi Gardiner MRCVS
• Dr Reginald Godwin MRCVS
• Paddy Gordon MRCVS
• Dr Danielle Greenberg MRCVS
• Dr Gerard Henry MRCVS
• Dr Richard Hillman MRCVS
• Dr Benjamin Kennedy MRCVS
• Dr Tom Lonsdale MRCVS
• Dr Darren Partridge MRCVS
• Martin Peaty MRCVS
• Alison Price MRCVS
• Dr Peter Robinson MRCVS
• Dr Jennifer Simmons MRCVS
• Dr Sadie Spencer MRCVS
• Dr Mary Thomas MRCVS
• William Wilkinson MRCVS
• Dr Lara Wilson MRCVS

The full biographies and election statements for each candidate are available to read on our RCVS elections webpage. The four candidates who receive the most votes will take up their four-year terms on RCVS Council at the College’s Annual General Meeting on Friday 4 July 2025.

VN Council has the responsibility for matters concerning veterinary nurse training, post-qualification awards and the registration of qualified veterinary nurses. The three candidates who are standing in this year’s election for the two available elected places are:

• Bethan Pinhey RVN
• Hannah Welsman RVN
• Lauren Whittaker RVN

The two candidates with the most votes will join VN Council for their three-year terms at the College’s AGM in July. The VN Council candidate biography and statements are available to read on the VN Council election webpage. 

Simon Wiklund (pictured), Assistant Registrar and Returning Officer for both elections, said: “We are glad to see such a large number of veterinary professionals putting themselves forward as candidates for this year’s elections. It is worth noting that any future governance changes, including RCVS and VN Councils becoming all-appointed bodies, are contingent on new legislation and, until that happens, we will continue to hold our annual elections.

“You may have also noticed some differences with this year’s elections, particularly in terms of the candidate statements. This is thanks to a change to our election scheme, which provides greater flexibility about how we run our elections, and the information that we can ask the candidates to submit.

“This means that, rather than asking candidates for a broad manifesto statement, we’ve asked them to answer key questions that are relevant to the role of a Council member, including what skills and experiences they can bring to the table.”

Ahead of the elections, RCVS will be running its ‘Quiz the candidates’ initiative in which veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses can submit questions to the candidates standing in their respective elections, in order to better understand them and their views. However, due to the additional information now included in each of their statements, this year candidates will only answer one question of their choice each.

Before submitting questions to the candidates, please note the RCVS will only accept one question per person. Offensive, defamatory and inaccurate questions will be rejected by the Returning Officer and not be passed on to candidates.

Veterinary surgeons can submit a question to the RCVS Council candidates by emailing [email protected]  

Veterinary nurses can submit a question to the VN Council candidates by emailing [email protected]

Members of the professions have until Friday 28 February 2025 to submit their question.