The Attorney General, Rt Hon Geoffrey Cox QC MP, has announced his preference to extend the term of Kevin McGinty CBE as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate. Mr McGinty’s term is due to finish on 31 March 2019 and the Attorney General wishes to reappoint him for a further two year period.

The appointment is subject to scrutiny by the Justice Select Committee. The Attorney General has therefore written to the Chair of the Committee, Bob Neil MP, to explain his intention to extend Mr McGinty’s tenure. The Committee can ask Mr McGinty to take part in a pre-appointment hearing before his position is confirmed.

Commenting on the announcement, Attorney General, Rt Hon Geoffrey Cox QC MP said:

I am pleased to announce my intention to extend Mr McGinty’s tenure as Chief Inspector by two years. During his four years as Chief Inspector, Kevin McGinty has proven himself a strong Chief Inspector who is not afraid to tackle the important and difficult issues, such as disclosure of evidence by the police and prosecutors. I hope that the Justice Select Committee will agree with my assessment that Mr McGinty is the right person at the right time to inspect the prosecutors.

Commenting on the announcement, Kevin McGinty said:

I am delighted at the prospect of continuing as Chief Inspector for a further two years. I want to thank the Attorney General for supporting my mandate to tackle important issues such as CPS performance. The work of HMCPSI is crucial to ensuring the quality of our criminal justice system and I hope to continue delivering high quality inspection programmes.

1. Kevin McGinty CBE was appointed in April 2015 by the previous Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, on a fixed four year term. His current tenure is due to end on 31 March 2019.
2. If extended, Mr McGinty’s tenure would last until March 2021. At this point, it is expected that an external recruitment process to select a new Chief Inspector would be launched by the Attorney General’s Office.
3. A full biography for Mr McGinty is below.

Kevin McGinty curriculum vitae (PDF, 87.8KB, 2 pages)

Dstl is hosting the 22nd annual International Chemical Weapons Demilitarisation (CWD) Conference. The two-day event on 22 to 24 May 2019 is at the Park Plaza Hotel Victoria London along with an informal networking session at the hotel on the eve of the conference.

The CWD conference brings together the world’s largest gathering of professionals involved in the demilitarisation of chemical weapons. It provides the opportunity to showcase the global progress in chemical weapon destruction and enables delegates to develop their knowledge and understanding with a common goal of a safer, cleaner world.

There will be representation from policy and decision-makers across international organisations, UK government, the armed forces, industry, academia, and research and development establishments worldwide.

The conference supports the global effort to eliminate chemical weapons and fosters co-operation through the exchange of information and ideas relating to the safe disposal.

Conference topics

The proposed topics for the conference are:

• programme planning, technology selection, facility construction, operations, safe closure of CWD facilities and environmental remediation and health and safety
• expedient destruction methods – how to reduce time and cost
• disposal of chemical weapons precursors in commercial facilities
• removal and destruction of chemical weapon precursors from Libya
• exchange of best practice
• chemical safety and security
• waste management
• explosive detonation technology
• recovery of chemical weapons from seas and rivers/lakes
• innovative technologies and services
• laboratory and analytical techniques/instrumentation
• analytical methods – environmental and biomedical

Further information

For more information, please email cwdconference@dstl.gov.uk.