RCVS chief executive Nick Stace.

Union concerns over new Royal Charter

The RCVS has defended its plans for  a new Royal charter following criticism from the union Unite.

The college said much of the comment from the union was outdated or misguided.

Unite, which embraces the British Veterinary Union (BVU),  said RCVS should not be the "judge and jury" for the industry and that it had written to the Government asking for the Professional Standards Authority to have scrutiny of the RCVS.

BVU chair Dr Shams Mir said: “The RCVS proposed new Royal Charter could be exploited by the RCVS to give itself proxy powers to introduce incontestable new regulatory measures.”

However, Nick Stace, chief executive of RCVS said: "Unite's suggestion that veterinary regulation should be under the scrutiny of the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) is misguided because the PSA is there to oversee regulation in the human healthcare sector and the RCVS already has Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Privy Council oversight.

“Its further thoughts around the RCVS disciplinary process are out of date and missing the point.

"Unite is calling for the College to no longer 'set the rules and hand down judgments', when in fact last year we successfully achieved a Legislative Reform Order, backed by the profession, to ensure that our Disciplinary and Preliminary Investigation Committees will become independent from council."

He also responded to claims from Unite that there was long standing discontent over the RCVS' disciplinary procedures. Mr Stace said feedback through its First Rate Regulator Initiative showed the profession has confidence in these procedures.

“The First Rate Regulator initiative is also leading to significant improvements in the way that complaints are handled, including speed to resolution. We would be delighted to meet with Unite to put them right where they are factually wrong, and hear what they have to say,” Mr Stace said.

Consultation over the first draft of the new charter, finished on Friday.