The primacy of animal welfare and protection
The primacy of animal welfare for veterinary surgeons is conveyed in the declaration that each makes upon admission to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons: 

“… above all, my constant endeavour will be to ensure the health and welfare of animals committed to my care.”

Mission statement
The Progressive Veterinary Association aims to effect positive change for all animals. We will provide a leading, progressive voice within the veterinary profession on issues of animal welfare and protection, irrespective of corporate or vested interest.

Ethics driven
The PVA will prioritise the ethical treatment of animals, as well as contributing to the maintenance of high standards of professional ethics within the profession. 

Inevitably empathy, compassion, clinical judgement and common sense have a strong bearing on what each veterinary surgeon does in their professional life. The circumstances in which individual animals find themselves - their environment, their system of husbandry, economic pressures and their owner or keeper where they have one - also bring different factors and expectations which impact their welfare.

Despite these factors, we shall endeavour to use scientific evidence and the precautionary principle to inform our decision-making processes. We fully support the reinstatement of animal sentience in respect of UK law and policy.

Veterinary voice
The PVA will provide a safe, accessible and confidential space in which members can raise animal welfare-related concerns in a veterinary context, and give members the opportunity to voice concerns with the support of like minded colleagues. The PVA will use such concerns to raise the profile of animal welfare-related issues within and beyond the veterinary profession, without compromising the position of its members.

Campaigning
The PVA is a campaigning organisation. We will run campaigns promoting animal welfare and protection across the sectors which impact on animals, whether that be in the natural environment, farms, zoos, laboratories, homes, fashion or entertainment. We will campaign for improvements in welfare, as well as against specific human activities that threaten the welfare of animals or their conservation.

Conservation and protection of species and environments
The natural world finds itself at a crossroads. What each country, each organisation and each individual does over the next 10 years will decide the fate of life on this planet. We are fully aware of how climate change is rapidly affecting habitats and ecosystems and support a move towards a plant-based diet for animals and humans where possible. The PVA will promote the protection of endangered species and the natural environment, with a strong focus on the importance of individual animals and their well-being. There can be no protection of the species with whom we share the earth without protection of the forests, savannahs, fields, trees and oceans in which they live - there can be no sustainable future for humans without so doing.

Global 
While being UK-based, the PVA will solicit global links and partners and aim to contribute to international projects aimed at improving animal welfare and protection.

Partners in education and research
We will build on our links with universities, veterinary schools, other veterinary bodies in the UK and beyond – as well as with governments and the general public. We will establish educational outreach into schools, veterinary colleges and universities. Getting animal welfare and protection covered comprehensively on school and university curricula will be a key aim of the PVA. We seek to forge strong links with the wider scientific community, veterinary paraprofessionals and those from allied disciplines and professions.

Membership
We are open to membership applications from veterinary surgeons and veterinary students, as well as veterinary nurses and trainees. Membership will be free of charge to bona fide students. We also welcome members of the public who support our aims, and there is a separate category of associate membership for lay supporters of the PVA.

Whilst the PVA is based in the UK, we are an international organisation and encourage membership from all parts of the world.

Use of funds
The PVA is registered as a not-for-profit organisation. Other than basic administration, funds will be spent on campaigning, electronic updates and services for members, publication of scientific findings, mainstream and social media communications, education and outreach. Membership fees will be reviewed periodically. The PVA will publish its accounts in full and in an open and transparent manner.

Management structure
PVA roles, committee structure, meetings, working groups, membership rules and democratic principles to be decided and regularly reviewed by MRCVS and RVN members. The PVA aims to conduct all of its activities in full consultation with its members, and in a democratic and inclusive manner.

Company structure
The Progressive Veterinary Association is a company limited by guarantee under registration number 13061868.

Directors
Veterinary surgeons Dr Iain McGill, Dr Alice Brough, Dr Andre Menache & Dr Bronwen Eastwood. As a not-for-profit organisation, the directors do not receive a dividend from the PVA.

Administration
Cohen & Davidson,
Chartered Accountants,
Mocatta House, BN1 4DU

Policy and data protection principles
We will comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information we hold about you must be:

• Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way;

• Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes;

• Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes;

• Accurate and kept up to date;

• Only used to communicate with you through individual or collective channels, and would only be placed in the public domain with your express permission (for authorship of publications, for example);

• Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about;

• Kept securely.

Equalities policy
The PVA respects diversity in all its forms and promotes equality. We will be open, honest, and transparent in our dealings with our members, colleagues, staff, stakeholders and the public.

Environmental policy
As we will campaign on environmental issues, our environmental policy will be a key feature of the PVA. This policy will be set and regularly reviewed by the membership.

Educational and safeguarding policy
We will do everything in our power to support, inform and nurture our members, and will abide by accepted safeguarding standards in our educational outreach programmes.