Dear Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons,

I am writing to request information under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Statutory Membership Examination (SME) for veterinary surgeons.

Specifically, I would like to obtain details on how the exam questions for the SME are sourced, finalized, and the guidelines followed in this process. Below are the specific inquiries I seek information on:

1. Does RCVS prepare questions themselves using their own veterinarian staff?
2. Does RCVS request questions from any veterinary college for inclusion in the examination?
3. Does RCVS request questions from teaching faculty of veterinary colleges?
4. Does RCVS request questions from field veterinary professionals?
5. Does RCVS use any premade question set or question collections for the exam?
6. Does RCVS recycle questions from previous years' examinations?

Furthermore, I would appreciate details on the following:

1. After sourcing the questions, who finalizes the questions and how is this process guided?
2. Could you provide information regarding the guidelines for determining the number of questions from specific "species of animal" and "body systems" to be included in each final paper? For example, 10 questions from dog orthopedics and 5 questions from cat infectious diseases and 7 questions from horse lameness.

Yours faithfully,

ZZ