The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee has warned that putting a cap on veterinary fees for pets could result in higher costs for farm vets.
A recent Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) report highlighted rapidly rising prices and large corporate entities having a greater share of the market of high street practices.
But the Committee heard concerns that, in rural areas, proposed measures to limit fees for the care of household pets could undermine the ability to keep costs down for care of farm animals, which are often cross-subsidised by the former.
In a new report published today, MPs recommend that, once the CMA’s remedies for the veterinary market commence, the Government should establish a framework to monitor pricing, competition and sustainability in the market, particularly in rural areas.
EFRA chair Alistair Carmichael said: “We must be wary of a one-size-fits-all approach impacting the sustainability of the rural, farm-based vet sector, which is vital to our food security. We urge caution and careful monitoring of the CMA’s remedies to improve transparency and competition in the market.”
Independent regulator
The committee is also calling for the government to boost consumer confidence in the veterinary sector by establishing an independent regulator.
The report recommends that the Government should end the veterinary sector’s system of self-regulation, undertaken by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Instead, a new body should be set up to carry out inspections, bringing the sector in line with others such as medicine and law, and improving consumer confidence.
Mr Carmichael added: “Self-regulation makes the veterinary sector an outlier and lacks supporters among the workforce itself. To improve consumer confidence, the Government should establish a new independent regulator charged with inspecting practices, and let the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons specialise in continuing to represent the profession’s interests.”
Staff problems
The report noted that the veterinary sector has a retention problem, particularly in public health roles, rural and large animal practices – 45% of the profession’s leavers had worked in the industry for four years or less, with 21% leaving within a single year.
The committee urges Defra to commission a review to understand the complex reasons for attrition, and use this work to set out evidence-based interventions and clear metrics and baseline data to monitor their progress.
The workforce is supported by recruiting some vets from overseas to address these shortages, but this is being hampered as immigration rules tighten. The MPs recommend that by early 2027 the Home Office and DEFRA should set new, higher salary thresholds for vets from abroad to secure Skilled Worker Visas. Immigration restrictions should be aligned with wider workforce needs in public health and food safety.
While stressing the critical imprtance of the veterinary sector, the report warns that the pipeline of future vets could be curtailed by financial problems in the veterinary education system.
The cost of educating domestic students is not adequately covered by tuition fees or government subsidies, which have long been capped. They have been cross-subsidised with income from international student fees, meaning restrictions on student visas add further risk to the financial sustainability of veterinary courses.
Without government intervention, courses will close and places will be cut, the committee warns. It recommends that the Government should, within the next Spending Review, undertake a full review of funding for veterinary education to ensure that funding levels reflect the true cost of training.
MPs also heard that the current legislation, now 60 years old, is too restrictive because it doesn’t allow vet nurses and technicians to perform certain tasks, preventing them from being fully integrated into delivery of veterinary care. This should form part of the Government’s current plans for new legislation.
Bird’s eye view
Mr Carmichael said: “The veterinary sector is highly valued and can offer a diverse range of great life-long careers, from preventing epidemics to facilitating global trade. But this country needs more of them, particularly in rural areas.
“We have heard about mental health issues stemming from the high stakes nature of the job, but Defra needs to get a bird’s eye view of what’s going wrong and plot interventions to support the workforce.”
The Committee has also published a letter to the government raising concerns about access to veterinary medicines in Northern Ireland and risks around antimicrobial resistance.