AGV COUNCIL MEETINGS

MINUTES OF AGM HELD AT ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
ON 15 SEPTEMBER 2011

Catherine McVicar, President of AGV, opened the meeting by welcoming members and guests.

1. Apologies for Absence were received from:

Teresa Exell
Jane Clark
Andrew Chirkowski
Paul Honeyman
Theresa Phillips
Richard Drummond
Vivian Malan
Alex Tomlinson
Trish Logie
Rebeca Garcia

2. Obituaries:

The secretary had received no notifications of deaths of members during the year.

3. Minutes of AGM of 22 September 2010 and Matters Arising

Minutes of the 2010 AGM were accepted as accurate and there were no matters arising. Proposed by F Landeg, seconded by K Sharpe.

4. President’s Address

The President (Catherine McVicar) presented her report which is appended. (Annexe 1 see below)

5. Secretary’s Report

The Secretary (Stewart Donald) presented his report which is appended. (Annexe 2 see below)

6. Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer (Fred Landeg) presented his report on Powerpoint – hard copy is appended. (Annexe 3)

7. BVA Rep’s Report

Adrienne Conroy presented her report as BVA representative. She thanked AGV Council members for their comments on BVA papers which she in turn fed back to BVA Council meetings.

Topics covered during the year at BVA Council were wide-ranging and included labelling of meat with respect to welfare at slaughter; DNA tagging of TB reactors and related rates for PVSs; forthcoming changes to PETS; the proposal by WAG to review the scientific evidence-base relating to eradication of bTB in Wales; Defra’s Contingency Plan for Exotic Notifiable Diseases; fish welfare at slaughter; raising awareness of antimicrobial resistance; BVA's food procurement policy based on a commitment to sustainability and animal welfare; the Home Office's consultation on the use of animals in research; the RCVS's proposed draft Code of Professional Conduct and the RCVS's legislative Working Party regarding the Veterinary Surgeons Act.

Key areas were private vets’ fees, bTB testing and other services provided by PVSs; forthcoming tendering procedures for bTB work; and structural changes to government organisations especially the AHVLA merger. All is detailed on the BVA website.

Up and coming topics will include the European Parliament's consideration of food labelling relating to country of origin and welfare of animals at shows.

8. EASVO Rep’s Report

Catherine McVicar (EASVO representative) presented her report. She had attended 2 meetings of the UK Co-ordination Group (UKCG) and 2 General Assemblies. Due to financial constraints our membership had been reduced to `Observer Status’ which meant we could attend the meetings but were not entitled to vote. Topics covered at the meetings included FVE Structure, control of Echinococcus multilocularis, modernisation of Meat Inspection (the value of vets compared to technicians), Food Chain Information, transport of horses, and veterinary statutory bodies. Comprehensive details of these topics are on the FVE website.

9. Amendments to Constitution

The following amendment to Section 4 of the Constitution was proposed.
`4. Membership of the Association is open to all veterinary surgeons permanently employed in any United Kingdom Government Department or their Executive Agencies, who are duly elected according to Rule 5. Members shall be entitled to retain their membership on secondment, retirement. (Amendment at 2003 AGM) or on departure from government employment following a minimum period of full time employment of five years or the part time equivalent (Amendment 2011).’

Also, that the name of the journal in Section 21 be changed from `State Veterinary Journal’ to `Government Veterinary Journal’.

The amendments were proposed by Linda Smith, seconded by Levon Stephan, and were carried unanimously

10. Election of Councillors

There were 2 vacancies on Council. Nominations received were:

Levon Stephan (AHVLA) proposed by Adrienne Conroy, seconded by Kate Sharpe, was standing for re-election.

John Lawrence (AHVLA) proposed by Fred Landeg, seconded by Kate Sharpe

There was unanimous support for both candidates and they were duly elected to Council.

11. Election of Officers

The following were proposed by John Lawrence, seconded by Adrienne Conroy:

President:                                       Linda Smith
Senior Vice-President:                    Catherine McVicar
Junior Vice-President:                     Kate Sharpe
Secretary:                                       Aiden Foster
Treasurer:                                       Trish Logie
BVA Representative:                       Adrienne Conroy
EASVO Representative:                  Catherine McVicar
AWF Representative:                      Rebeca Garcia

The meeting was in favour of all proposed Officers and they were duly elected.

12. Election of Auditors

Alan MacPhee and Alan Eames agreed to continue as auditors. Proposed by Adrienne Conroy, seconded by Levon Stephan. The President expressed her thanks to them both.

13. Life Membership

Council recommended that Life Membership for 2011 be bestowed on Bill Reilly. Proposed by Stewart Donald, seconded by Levon Stephan.

14. Any Other Business

No other business was proposed.

15. Induction of New President

Outgoing President Catherine McVicar stated that it gave her great pleasure to induct Linda Smith as President of AGV for 2011/12.

Linda responded by saying that she was pleased and proud to be elected President. AGV continued to do good work but because of falling numbers was at risk of being on the `endangered list’. Recruitment is essential and she wanted to be able to say this time next year that membership had increased. Confusion had arisen in the past between AGV and GVS but she now felt that their remits had been made more clear. In summary, she hoped that as President she could `make a difference’.

Annexe 1

INTRODUCTION

I inherited a strong council with balanced representation and which had been developing ideas for the way forward for AGV

On taking up the office of President said that I wanted to work with Council to ensure that AGV continued to thrive and develop

AIMS

To build our identity AGV is a Division of BVA and is separate from GVS.

To thrive AGV must be financially viable and needs the support of members especially those currently employed in government

To give value to our members:

Networking – Newsletter, website, meetings, liaison with management and our umbrella organisation BVA, liaison with FVE through membership of our section of this organisation EASVO

CPD - provision at our symposium

ACHIEVEMENTS

Building our identity
Throughout the year we have taken the opportunity in our Newsletter, in our day to day work to discuss the relevance of our organisation and by raising our profile in various ways such as by running a CPD questionnaire and improving our website which I will describe in more detail in this report.

Financial viability
We have encountered additional difficulties this year due to the financial constraints within which all are working. Council members give generously of their own time and AGV very much appreciates management support for time which individual council members are able to utilise especially for attendance at Council Meetings. Mindful of this and due to increased travel costs we have held most council meetings as telecons and reduced the number of Council meetings. Further information will be provided in his Treasurer’s report by Fred to whom special thanks are due for keeping us aware of our position throughout the year.

The value and costs of European representation has long been a matter of debate in our association. At last year’s AGM concern about our financial position was reported and Council was given a mandate to explore options to manage EASVO membership and associated travel expenses. Following a suggestion from Andrew Chirkowski recently retired as secretary of EASVO I am pleased to report the generosity of our colleagues in EASVO who have allowed us to continue as members with Observer status for an interim period while we explore options. Unless we can find alternative means this situation cannot be sustained. The situation is ongoing and we intend to continue to pursue it in the coming year reporting to members in due course.

Networking
I am particularly grateful to Alex Tomlinson, Rebeca Garcia and Linda Smith for the production of two Newsletters this year. Also to Aiden Foster for his work in upgrading our website where you will find information about recent meetings and activities, presentations of interest e.g. those from last year’s symposium (on aspects of developing health schemes) and links to BVA and FVE sites. There is also a leaflet about AGV and membership application forms which I hope you will use to help us to recruit.

Recently Kate Sharpe and I met with Simon Hall as newly appointed veterinary Director of AHVLA. We were pleased with Simon’s positive reception to our presentation of our role in CPD and veterinary professional networking within the AHVLA which is our largest constituency. A preliminary report of our CPD questionnaire was well received by Simon. We welcome the possibility of AGV discussion sessions at proposed regional conferences.

Last week Linda Smith Kate Sharpe and I attended the joint officers meeting with BVA where a range of topics were discussed including the AHVLA merger. A further meeting is proposed early in next year.

CPD
You will be aware of our CPD survey. Special thanks for her work on this is due to Linda Smith. A final report will be sent to your very shortly. Findings included a majority requirement for scientific, business orientated topics and government work /links between policy and operations. There was a preference for weekdays. Other suggestions some of which have been highlighted to management included possible use of webinars, regional evening meetings, links with other BVA Divisions, a wish for modular training leading to a postgraduate certificate. Of importance for the future provision of CPD by AGV was the clear indication of a preference for a weekday meeting.

Future
I believe that with the assistance of some very able, energetic and supportive council members quite a lot has been achieved in the year 2010 –11. More remains to be done in carrying forward liaison with members, management and BVA. The issue of European representation remains to be resolved. Further work is needed on AGV’s input to CPD. Most importantly new members need to be recruited and the arrangements for our annual meeting need further consideration to take account of the possibility of a stand- alone meeting and taking account of your preference for a weekday event.

Summary
It has been an immense privilege to be President of this association and to work with the excellent team of council members. I thank you all.

Annexe 2 AGV SECRETARY’S REPORT 2011

There have been 10 meetings of Council in 2010/11, 3 held in London and 7 held by teleconference. The latter have represented good value for money and time but have almost become a necessity due to government spending cutbacks and the reluctance of line managers to fund T&S to London meetings. There is however a definite need for full meetings as a much more comprehensive agenda can be dealt with at these. Some meetings have included discussion of BVA papers in preparation for Adrienne attending BVA Council meetings as AGV rep. Attendance by Council members at all our meetings this year has been excellent with those not being able to attend in person managing to phone in. Minutes of each of our meetings have been posted on our website for the perusal of all members.

I have also attended Member Services Group meetings of BVA as AGV have a seat on this group which I now hold. Rebeca has attended AWF meetings in her role as our representative on that body. Trish and Alex have represented AGV at AVS Congress promoting the Association but also providing guidance to students on careers in government service. Catherine has attended FVE/EASVO general assemblies although due to the poor state of our finances and the hefty EASVO subscription, we have had to curtail our EASVO involvement to observer status only.