News story: Appointment, reappointment and extensions of Parole Board members

Ministers have approved the appointment, reappointment and extensions of Parole Board members. Appointments are subject to security clearance.

Parole Board members are appointed under Schedule 19 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The appointment of Parole Board members are made after an open, transparent recruitment process which complies – save for judicial members- with the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (CPA). There are currently 214 Parole Board members.

The Parole Board is an independent body that works with its criminal justice partners to protect the public by risk assessing prisoners to decide whether they can be safely released into the community.

The Parole Board was established by the Criminal Justice Act 1967. It is an Executive Non Departmental Public Body sponsored by the MoJ.

Appointments

Ministers have approved the appointment of 104 Parole Board members:

Independent members

The members below were appointed from 1 December 2016 until 30 November 2019:

Shazia Ahmed
Katy Barrow
Daniel Bunting
Dr Rob Cawley
Joanne Chambers
Michelle Coulson
Jo Dowling
Jacki Duff
Robert Edmondson-Jones
Hedd Emrys Vine
Melanie Essex
Paulene Gandhi
Victoria Goodfellow
Christine Lawrie
Elaine Moloney
Douglas Paxton
Alison Pearson
Wendy Poynton
Margaret Prythergch
Elizabeth Rantzen
Lisa Sanderson
Karol Sanderson
Victoria Scott
Helena Suffield-Thompson
Bill Warren
Sarah Wells
Jeremy Weston
Cassie Williams

The following were appointed from 1 July 2017 and until 30 June 2021.

Sarfraz Ahmad
Sally Allbeury
Nicola Auguste
Joanna Cain
Rachel Cook
Amy Coyte
Angharad Davies
Emma Davy
Stefan Fafinski
Paul French
Chris Fry
Philip Hindson
Gill Hirst
Lisa Lamb
Timothy Lawrence
Siobhan McBride
Fran McGrath
Lynn O’Malley
Helen Potts
Jayne Salt
Alex Simmonds
Alice Sims
Rebecca Sims
Robert Smith
Kay Taylor
Julia Thackray
Carol Trimmer

Ministers have approved the appointment from 1 July 2017 until 30 June 2020, the following serving Parole Board members who were successful applicants in the recent open recruitment process.

Graham Bull
Sue Dale
Malcolm Davidson
Sian Flynn
Alan Harris
Bill Mayne
Clare Mitchell
Susan Smith
Ilana Tessler

Judicial members

Ministers have approved the appointment of the following judicial members from 1 December 2016 until 30 November 2019.

HH Anthony Ansell
HH Pamela Badley
HH Roger Chapple
HHJ Stephen Dawson
HH John Dowse
HHJ John Evans
HH Peter Grobel
HH Simon Hammond
HH John Harrow

These members below have been appointed from 1 July 2017 until 30 June 2020.

The Hon Sir David Calvert-Smith
HH Nick Coleman
HH Michael Lawson
HHJ Philip Wassall

Psychiatrist members

Ministers have approved the appointment of Luke Birmingham and Huw Stone from 1 December 2016 until 30 November 2020.

Ministers have appointed two serving members: Lynne Daly and Caryl Morgan from 1 December 2016 until 30 November 2020.

Ministers have approved the appointment of Tim McInerny, Chris Jones and Sajid Muzaffar from 1 July 2017 until 30 June 2021.

Psychologist members

Ministers have approved the appointment of the following members. From 1 December 2016 until 30 November 2020:

Abby Fenton
Jane Gilbert
Victoria Magrath
Mary McMurran
Rebecca Milner
Wendy Morgan
Brendan O’Mahony
Sue Vivian-Byrne

From 1 July 2017 until 30 June 2021.

Fiona Ainsworth
Pamela Attwell
Elina Baker
Claire Barker
Linda Blud
Vivien Le Fort
Lindy Maslin
Libby Payne
Rachel Roper
Georgina Rowse
Alyson Smith
Claire Smith

Re-appointments

Judicial members

Ministers have approved the reappointment of four Judicial members. Details of those reappointed and the duration of each reappointment are provided below.

HHJ Jeffrey Burke QC from 31 August 2016 until 30 August 2018
HH Robert Brown from 1 September 2016 until 30 August 2018
HH Michael Burr from 1 September 2016 until 31 August 2018
HHJ Nicholas Webb from 1 October 2016 until 26 September 2020

Psychiatrist members

Ministers have approved the reappointments from 1 September 2016 until 31 August 2018 of:

Ian Keitch
John O’Grady
Helen Whitworth

Psychologist members

Ministers have approved the reappointment of 13 members. Details of those reappointed and the duration of each reappointment are provided below.

Martha Blom-Cooper from 17 April 2016 until 16 April 2018
Joanna Homewood from 31 August 2016 until 30 August 2018
Eleni Belevanaki from 7 November 2016 until 6 November 2021
Jacquiline Bates-Gaston from 28 November 2016 until 13 November 2021

From 28 November 2016 until 27 November 2021;

Eliza Harris
Julia Higginbottom
Claire Hunt
Sarah Khan
Sharon Leitch
Lorraine Mosson-Jones
Caroline Preston
Kate Saward
Anne Williams

Extension of appointment

The CPA also agreed an exemption from the provisions of the Code of Practice in order that Ministers might extend the appointment of a number of serving Parole Board members so that they might support the mentoring and training of newly appointed members. These were as follows:

Independent members

Ministers have approved the extension of the appointments from 1 October 2016 until 30 September 2018 of:

Ms Kim Evans
James Haines MBE
Peter Haynes
Andrew Mimmack
Emma Pusill
Alan Rayner
Denise White

Psychiatrist members

Ministers have approved the extension of the appointments from 1 October 2016 until 30 September 2018 of:

Dawn Black
Derek Chiswick
Rosmarie Cope
Paul Courtney
Sukh Lally

Declarations of political interest

The following Members have declared that they have political interest within the last 5 years:

Victoria Scott has declared that she had canvassed on behalf of the Labour Party or helped at election, she also acted as a teller outside the local polling station.
Nicola Auguste has declared that she had canvassed on behalf of the Liberal Democrats Party or helped at the previous 2 general elections by assisting with the organisation of election day activities. This included co-ordinating door to door canvassing and updating databases. She also attended polling stations to ask if voters would give their voter number.
Sian Flynn has declared that she canvassed for the Conservative Party in the 2015 General Election.
Chris Jones has declared that he is an active member of the Labour Party and holds an Executive Committee position in his local constituency party. In 2015, he stood as a Parliamentary candidate. In 2016, he stood as the Labour and Cooperative candidate in the Police and Crime Commissioner election.
Peter Haynes has declared that he stood as an Independent member of Eccleston Parish Council from 2006 to 2011.