Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966

The Council

The Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons

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• (1) For the purpose of managing the affairs of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons there shall continue to be a Council of the College consisting (subject to any Order in Council under section 21 of this Act) of the following persons, that is to say—

• (a) thirteen persons (hereafter in this Act referred to as “elected members of the Council”) elected from among themselves by members of the College ...;

• (b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (c) three persons appointed by the recognised universities acting jointly;

• (d) two registered veterinary nurses appointed by the Veterinary Nurses’ Council;

• (e) six lay persons appointed by the Council, having had regard to the recommendations of the committee advising the Council for that purpose.

• (1A) A member of the College who, by virtue of article 3(1) or 3(2) of the Agreement with respect to veterinary surgeons made beween Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of the Republic of Ireland and given effect to in the United Kingdom by the Veterinary Surgeons (Agreement with the Republic of Ireland) Order 1988, is not required to pay a fee in respect of his membership of the College, may not vote, propose any candidate or stand as a candidate in any election of members of the Council which takes place after 31st May 1988 unless he has paid, in respect of every membership year that has occurred between that date and the date of the election, the fee prescribed by regulation of the Council under section 11(1)(b) of this Act on or before 31st March in every such year; and in this sub-section “membership year” means the membership year of the College running from the 1st day of April to the 31st day of March.

• (2) There shall continue to be a President and two Vice-Presidents of the College elected from among themselves by members of the Council.

• (3) Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the tenure of office, election and appointment of the President and Vice-Presidents of the College and of the other members of the Council and with respect to other matters relating to the Council.

• (3A) In this section and in Schedule 1—

• “lay person” means an individual who is not, and has never been, registered or entitled to be registered in—the register;the supplementary veterinary register; orthe veterinary nurses register;

• “recognised universities” means the universities in the United Kingdom for which, at the time concerned, there are recognition orders in force;

• “registered veterinary nurse” means a person whose name appears on the veterinary nurses register;

• “veterinary nurses register” means the register of veterinary nurses kept by the College under article 12 of the Supplemental Royal Charter of the College dated 17th February 2015.

• (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Registration and qualification for registration

Register of veterinary surgeons

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• (1) There shall continue to be a register known as the register of veterinary surgeons (hereafter in this Act referred to as “the register”) containing the names, addresses and qualifications of all persons who are entitled under the provisions of this Act to be registered therein.

• (2) The register shall consist of five lists—

• (a) one, to be called the general list, of persons entitled to be registered in the register under section 3 or 4 of this Act;

• (b) one, to be called the Commonwealth list, of persons entitled to be so registered as holding some Commonwealth qualification;

• (c) one, to be called the foreign list, of persons so registered as holding some foreign qualification;

• (d) one, to be called the temporary list, of persons entitled to be so registered under section 7 of this Act; and

• (e) one, to be called the visiting European list, of persons who, immediately before IP completion day, were entitled to be so registered under Schedule 1B to this Act

Right of holders of university degrees to be registered

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• (1) Where—

• (a) a university in the United Kingdom provides courses of study and examinations leading to a veterinary degree, and

• (b) it appears to the Privy Council, after consultation with the Council of the College, that the courses of study and examinations are such as sufficiently to guarantee that holders of the degree—

• (i) will have acquired the knowledge and skill needed for the efficient practice of veterinary surgery; ...

• (ii) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

the Privy Council may by order (in this Act referred to as “a recognition order”) direct that any person on whom, during the continuance in force of the order, the degree is conferred after attending those courses at that university shall be entitled to be registered in the register and shall on being so registered become a member of the College.

• (2) If, while a recognition order is in force, it appears to the Council that the courses of study and examinations leading to the degree to which the order relates are no longer such as to justify the continuance in force of the order, the Council may make representations to that effect to the Privy Council.

• (3) Where any representations are made under the last foregoing subsection, the Privy Council shall give notice to the university in question that the representations have been made, together with such particulars thereof as may be requisite to enable the university to formulate their observations on or objections to the representations.

• (4) The Privy Council shall consider any such representations and any such observations or objections made within such time not less than two months from the giving of the notice under the last foregoing subsection as the Privy Council may determine, and may if they think fit by order revoke or suspend the recognition order.

• (5) An order under the last foregoing subsection suspending a recognition order may be revoked by a subsequent order of the Privy Council if it appears to them expedient in consequence of representations made by the Council of the College or by the university in question that the recognition order should be revived.

Examination by the College of students of certain universities

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• (1) On the application of any university in the United Kingdom for which no recognition order is in force the Privy Council may—

• (a) after consultation with the Council of the College; ...

• (b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

direct the College to hold examinations in veterinary surgery for the students of veterinary surgery attending at that university; and any such student passing any such examination shall be entitled to be registered in the register and shall on being so registered become a member of the College.

• (2) A direction under the foregoing subsection with respect to any university shall cease to have effect on the coming into force or revival of a recognition order for that university or may be revoked by a subsequent direction of the Privy Council made after consultation with that university and with the Council of the College.

Supervisory functions of the Council

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• (1) The following provisions of this section shall have effect for the purpose of securing that the courses of study to be followed by students training to be veterinary surgeons and the standard of proficiency required for registration in the register shall be such as sufficiently to guarantee that persons registered in the register will have acquired the knowledge and skill needed for the efficient practice of veterinary surgery ... : and it shall be the duty of the Council to exercise the powers conferred on them by those provisions so far as necessary for that purpose.

• (2) The Council may appoint persons to visit the universities for which recognition orders are in force or are proposed to be made, and any other universities which for the time being provide or propose to provide courses leading to examination by the College, and to report on the courses of study, staffing, accommodation and equipment available for training in veterinary surgery and the other arrangements and facilities for such training.

• (3) The Council may appoint persons to attend at examinations in any aspect of veterinary surgery at universities for which recognition orders are in force or are proposed to be made and to report to the Council as to the sufficiency of the examinations and as to such other matters relating thereto as the Council may require:

• (4) On the receipt of any report made under this section—

• (a) the Council shall send a copy of the report to the university concerned;

• (b) the university may within the period of two months from the receipt of the copy make observations on or objections to the report to the Council;

• (c) as soon as practicapracticable after the expiration of that period the Council shall send the Privy Council a copy of the report and of any such observations or objections which are duly made, together with the comments of the former on the report and the observations or objections.

• (5) A university for which a recognition order is in force shall, on being requested in writing so to do by the Council, furnish the Council with such information as may be specified in the request as to the courses of study and examinations leading to the degree to which the recognition order relates; and a university for whose students of veterinary surgery examinations are held under the last foregoing section shall, on being so requested, furnish the Council with such information as may be so specified as to the courses of study preparing students for those examinations.

Qualification for registration as a Commonwealth or foreign practitioner

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• (1) A person who shows to the satisfaction of the registrar—

• (a) that he is of good character,

• (b) that he ...

• (i) holds a Commonwealth or foreign qualification in veterinary surgery; ...

• (ii) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (c) that he has satisfied the Council that he has the requisite knowledge and skill to fit him for practising veterinary surgery in the United Kingdom, and

• (d) that he has a knowledge of language sufficient to practise as a veterinary surgeon in the United Kingdom,

shall be entitled under this section to be registered in the register and on being so registered shall become a member of the College.

• (1A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (2) Without prejudice to any other steps which the Council may take for the purpose of satisfying themselves that a person has the requisite knowledge and skill to fit the person for practising veterinary surgery in the United Kingdom , the Council shall for that purpose, except in a case falling within the next following subsection, require him to sit for examinations held for the purposes of this section by or under arrangements made by the College.

• (3) If a Commonwealth or foreign qualification held by a person is of a kind accepted for the time being by the Council as constituting, in itself, satisfactory proof of that person’s possessing the requisite knowledge and skill to fit him for practising veterinary surgery in the United Kingdom, that person shall be taken to have satisfied the Council that he has the said knowledge and skill.

• (4) The Council may make regulations as to the examinations to be held for the purposes of this section, and may include in the regulations provisions for withdrawing the right to sit for any such examinations from a person who has not paid the fee prescribed by the regulations for sitting for the examinations, or from a person who has previously failed to pass such examinations on such number of occasions as may be prescribed by the regulations.

• (5) The Council may direct that a particular person who has passed the examinations required to obtain a Commonwealth or foreign qualification shall be treated for the purposes of this section as a person holding a Commonwealth or foreign qualification, as the case may be.

• (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Temporary registration

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• (1) The Council may, with a view to permitting—

• (a) a person who satisfies them that he has attended a course of study, and has passed the examinations, leading to a degree to which a recognition order relates; and

• (b) a person holding a Commonwealth or foreign qualification in veterinary surgery,

to practise veterinary surgery temporarily or otherwise subject to restrictions, direct that he be registered in the register subject to such restrictions as the Council may specify in the direction with respect to the period for which, the place or places at which and the circumstances in which he may practise veterinary surgery; and any person with respect to whom a direction is given under this subsection shall be entitled to be registered in the register subject to the entry against his name of the restrictions so specified.

• (2) Registration under this section shall not make it lawful for a person to practise veterinary surgery otherwise than subject to the said restrictions.

• (3) Where a person registered under this section fails to comply with any of the restrictions subject to which he is registered, the Council may cause his name to be removed from the register.

• (4) The Council may direct that a particular person who has passed the examinations required to obtain a Commonwealth or foreign qualification shall be treated for the purposes of this section as a person holding a Commonwealth or foreign qualification, as the case may be.

Supplementary veterinary register

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• (1) There shall continue to be a register known as the supplementary veterinary register containing the names and addresses of the following persons (to be known as veterinary practitioners), that is to say—

• (a) the persons who immediately before the commencement of this Act were registered in that register;

• (b) the persons who having been so registered at some previous time were not then so registered, but whose names are restored to that register under section 18 of this Act; and

• (c) the persons entitled to be registered in that register under the next following subsection.

• (2) Any person who for an aggregate of not less than seven out of the ten years immediately preceding 2nd December 1965 held a licence under section 7 of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1948 (licensing of employees of certain societies and institutions providing free treatment for animals) shall be entitled to be registered in the supplementary veterinary register, but shall not be entitled to practise veterinary surgery—

• (a) otherwise than as an employee of any society or institution mentioned in subsection (1) of that section; or

• (b) except with permission granted by the Council and subject to such restrictions as the Council may impose.

• (3) Where a person is registered in the supplementary veterinary register under the last foregoing subsection, the entry against his name in the register shall state—

• (a) whether he is the employee of any such society or institution as aforesaid;

• (b) whether he has been granted permission to practise veterinary surgery; and

• (c) any restrictions subject to which he may practise it.

• (4) Where a person registered in the supplementary veterinary register under subsection (2) of this section fails to comply with any restrictions subject to which he is so registered, the Council may cause his name to be removed from the register.

• (5) A certificate purporting to be a certificate of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food stating that any person held, or did not hold, a licence under section 7 of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1948 for a period specified in the certificate shall be conclusive for the purposes of this section of the matters stated in the certificate.

Supplementary provisions as to the register and registration

Keeping, evidential effect and publication of the register

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• (1) The register shall be kept by the registrar of the College who shall be appointed by the Council.

• (2) The registrar shall perform such other duties in connection with the register as the Council may direct, and in the execution of his duties he shall act on such evidence as in each case appears sufficient.

• (3) The Council shall cause the register to be printed and published as often as they think fit.

• (4) If in any year the register is not published, the Council shall cause any alterations in the entries in that register which have been made since the last publication thereof to be printed and published within that year.

• (5) A copy of the register purporting to be printed and published by the Council shall, as altered by any alterations purporting to be printed and published by the Council, be evidence (and in Scotland sufficient evidence) that the persons specified in the register are registered therein; and the absence of a person’s name from any such copy shall be evidence (and in Scotland sufficient evidence) that he is not registered in the register.

• (6) In the case of a person whose name does not appear in any such copy of the register as altered as aforesaid, a certified copy, under the hand of the registrar, of the entry relating to that person in the register shall be evidence (and in Scotland sufficient evidence) of the entry.

• (7) The registrar shall from time to time insert in the register any alteration which may come to his knowledge in the name or address of any registered person.

• (8) The foregoing provisions of this section shall apply in relation to the supplementary veterinary register as they apply in relation to the register of veterinary surgeons.

Procedure for registration

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• (1) Any right to registration in the register or the supplementary veterinary register shall be conditional on the making of an application supported by such evidence as is required by the following subsection and, in the case of registration in the supplementary veterinary register of persons mentioned in section 8(1)(c) of this Act, on the making of the application within six months of the commencement of this Act.