25 Apr 2023
Three vets and two VNs will take their seats for their respective councils at college’s July annual meeting.
Paul Imrie
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Image © Freepik / Adobe Stock
Two new faces are joining RCVS council, with the college today (25 April) releasing full results for its 2023 elections.
Alice McLeish and Tim Hutchinson were successful in their bids to join the council, and will take their seats at 7 July’s annual meeting.
Turnout was down again, to 16.7%, with the RCVS pledging to improve engagement in future election cycles as part of its college culture project.
However, it increased slightly – to 8.8% – in the VN council elections, where Matthew Rendle was re-elected with new member Simon Williams for a three-year term.
Ten vet candidates stood for the three places up for grabs on RCVS council, which is responsible for governance of the college, including setting professional and educational standards.
Chris Proudman, who had previously served as a Veterinary Schools Council appointee, failed in his bid to become an elected representative this time around. Niall Connell, who had served three terms and is outgoing college treasurer, and Jo Dyer were not seeking re-election.
In total, 6,087 vets – or 16.7% of those eligible – voted in this year’s elections, compared to 18.6% in 2022, 24.5% in 2021 and 26.2% in 2020.
In the VN elections, 1,927 VNs cast a vote, with the 8.8% turnout up on 8.4% in 2022, but down on 12.4% in 2021 and 17.1% in 2020.
As with elections in the previous two years, the polls were carried out entirely online with Civica Election Services.
Eleanor Ferguson, RCVS registrar and returning officer for both elections, said: “Congratulations to all our successful candidates in this year’s elections and thank you to all those who stood for election this year. We look forward to welcoming our successful candidates to their elected places at this year’s AGM.
“As part of our wider council culture project, we are looking at how to increase engagement with our election processes across the board, from candidate nominations, to how we present information about the candidates, to how we encourage greater election turnout. We will be consulting with the group set up to look specifically at this issue in due course to see how we can improve turnout going forward.”
Full results are available on the RCVS website for the vet and VN elections.
