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Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland
23/04/2008
Part-time Commissioners to the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland serve an initial period of four years. Four re-appointments have been made by Her Majesty the Queen on the recommendation of the Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP, First Minister of Scotland.
Ms Linda Graham, BSc (Hons), MPhil, C.Psychol, AFBPsS, qualified as a clinical psychologist in 1996 and is currently employed by NHS Tayside as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist specialising in the treatment of people with severe and enduring mental health problems. Ms Graham also provides lecturing and teaching and undertakes work within private practice covering criminal court work and civil compensation cases. She has been a part time Commissioner with the Mental Welfare Commission since 2004 and does not hold any other ministerial appointments.
Mr Douglas White has worked with Enable Scotland for a number of years involved with their various activities and forums and dealing with advocacy issues for people with learning disabilities. He is interested in consultancy work dealing with disability issues and volunteers to talk about his experiences in educational settings. Mr White is also a recipient of the Scotland UnLtd Millennium Award that is supporting him to establish a consultancy agency. He has been a part time Commissioner with the Mental Welfare Commission since 2004 and does not hold any other ministerial appointments.
Mrs Carol Dobson is a Programme Director at NHS Education for Scotland, the national organisation with responsibility for developing educational solutions for workforce development in the National Health Service in Scotland. Mrs Dobson's background is in mental health nursing and nursing education. Formerly Chair of the Editorial Board of the journal Mental Health Nursing, she has held several external examining appointments at Universities throughout the UK. She has been a part time Commissioner with the Mental Welfare Commission since 2004 and does not hold any other ministerial appointments.
Mr Colin Welsh has worked in Social Work and Health Care for almost 30 years. He is currently employed by Fife NHS to manage their specialist mental health service in West Fife, the Community Outreach Team. Prior to taking up this post in 2000 he worked as a Mental Health Officer with Fife Council and coordinated their out of hours service. He has been a part time Commissioner with the Mental Welfare Commission since 2004 and does nor hold any other ministerial appointments.
These re-appointments will be for a period of four years from April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2012, with the exception of Ms Graham's whose re-appointment will be for a period of four years from March 1, 2008 to February 29, 2012.
These posts are part time with a time commitment of around 20 to 25 days per year. A fee of £207 is payable for each day devoted to Commission business.
The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland is an independent statutory body which protects mentally disordered people who are not able to look after their own interests. It enquires into cases of alleged ill treatment or deficiency of care or treatment and visits persons with mental disorder in hospitals and community settings, some of whom will be subject to the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 or the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000.
These Ministerial appointments were made in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland.
All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees' political activity (if any declared) to be made public. Within the last five years, Mr Colin Welsh has held office, stood as a candidate, canvassed and spoken on behalf of the Scottish National Party. None of the other re-appointees have been involved in any political activity.