Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what studies the Government has undertaken to establish the extent to which common veterinary practice is evidence-based.

Clinical governance is a requirement for all veterinary surgeons, under the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ Code of Professional Conduct which can be found here: https://www.rcvs.org.uk/setting-standards/advice-and-guidance/code-of-professional-conduct-for-veterinary-surgeons/

Clinical governance may include critically analysing the evidence base for procedures used and making appropriate changes to practice, which falls directly under the principles of evidence based veterinary medicine. In order to be considered fit to practice, veterinary practitioners hold the responsibility to ground their decisions on sound, objective and up to date evidence, when available.