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Judicial Appointments Board
29/06/2007
The Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill, today announced the appointment of new members to the Judicial Appointments Board - two lay members, an Advocate member and a Sheriff Principal member.
Ms Elspeth MacArthur has been appointed as a new lay member of the Board to replace Sir Robert Smith who has recently retired as a lay member. Ms MacArthur's background is in human resources and she has been Director of Human Resources at Edinburgh University for the past nine years. She has also recently been appointed to the Board of the John Wheatley College which is committed to regeneration and combating social exclusion in the east end of Glasgow.
Ms MacArthur's appointment will be for three years and will run from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2010.
Mr Sandy Mowat is due to take up appointment as a new lay member at the end of the year when Professor Joan Stringer retires. Mr Mowat's background is in business as a chartered accountant and he has been the senior and managing partner of Alexander Sloan, Chartered Accountants for the past 13 years. Mr Mowat has also held a number of charity commitments over the years, particularly in relation to the Scout Association where he is currently the Chair of the Executive Committee. Mr Mowat's appointment will also be for three years.
The above posts are part-time and attract a remuneration of £290 per day for a commitment of around 20-30 days per year.
In addition, Mr Roy Martin QC, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, has been appointed to the Board as the new Advocate member and Sheriff Principal Sir Stephen Young QC has been appointed as the new Sheriff Principal member. Both of these appointments are for three years from June 1, 2007.
The new appointees replace members who are retiring this year. The composition of the Board is five legal and five lay persons and remains unchanged.
The appointments of the new lay members and the advocate member followed recommendations to Scottish Ministers by an independent selection panel comprising Lady Cosgrove, retired Judge, Anja Amsel, OCPAS assessor acting in an independent capacity and Sir Neil McIntosh, Chair of the Judicial Appointments Board.
The Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland was set up in 2002 with a remit to advise Ministers on the appointment of Judges, Sheriffs Principal and Sheriffs (both full-time and part-time). There are ten members, five legal members (a Judge, Sheriff Principal, Sheriff, an Advocate and a Solicitor) and five lay members including Sir Neil McIntosh as the lay Chairman.
The Judicial Appointments Board currently operates on an administrative basis and is therefore not subject to OCPAS regulations. However, the selection panel included an OCPAS assessor and followed good recruitment practice in making the recommendations for appointment.