Annex B: Conditions about fitness to be a member of a statutory committee

Extract from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Preliminary Investigation Committee and Disciplinary Committee Protocol 2022

Members of the committees shall hold office subject to satisfying the following conditions:

1. they must at no time have been convicted of an offence involving dishonesty or deception in the United Kingdom, or in relation to the welfare of animals, or where the final outcome of the proceedings was a sentence of imprisonment or detention, the conviction not being a spent conviction;
2. they must at no time have been removed from the office of charity trustee or trustee for a charity by reason of any misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charity for which the person was responsible or to which the person was privy, or which the person contributed to or facilitated by their conduct;
3. they must at no time have been removed from office as the chair, member, convenor or director of any public body on the grounds that it was not in the interests of, or conducive to the good management of, that body that the person should continue to hold that office;
4. they must at no time have been adjudged bankrupt or had sequestration of their estate awarded, the person not having been discharged;
5. they must not be the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order or an interim bankruptcy restrictions order;
6. they must at no time have made a composition or arrangement with, or granted a trust deed for, their creditors, not having been discharged in respect of it;
7. they must not be disqualified from being a company director;
8. they must not be included in a barred list under statutory provisions for the safeguarding of vulnerable groups;
9. they must at no time have been subject to any investigation or proceedings concerning fitness to practise by any licensing body, if the final outcome of the investigation or proceedings was suspension from a register held by the licensing body (that suspension not having been terminated), or erasure from such a register, or a decision that had the effect of preventing practice of the profession licensed or regulated by the licensing body, or only allowing practice subject to conditions which were not lifted;
10. they must at no time have had their name removed from the register of veterinary surgeons under Section 16 of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966;
11. they must not have been the subject of a direction under Section 16 of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 for their registration to be suspended, if that suspension remains in operation;
12. they must not be, or have been, subject to any investigation or proceedings concerning fitness to practise by any licensing body or by the Council, or at any time convicted of an offence elsewhere than in the United Kingdom, if the Council is satisfied that their membership of the committee would in view of that investigation or those proceedings or that conviction be liable to undermine public confidence in the regulation of the veterinary profession;
13. their attendance at meetings of the committee must not have fallen below a minimum level of attendance acceptable to the Council;
14. they must undertake any education or training required by the Council and comply with any arrangements as to appraisal of their performance as committee members which the Council may require;
15. they must not be unable to perform their duties as committee members because of adverse physical or mental health.

The Council may remove from office any member of a statutory committee if satisfied that they do not comply with one or more of the conditions mentioned above, or that their membership of the committee would for any other reason be liable to undermine public confidence in the regulation of the veterinary profession.

Before removing from office, a member of a statutory committee, the Council will set up a panel to advise it on the matter and will have regard to the advice of that panel. The panel will not include members of the Council.