Appointment of Scottish Committee Chair
(31 August 2005)Minister for Justice Cathy Jamieson has announced the appointment of Professor Alistair MacLeary as Chair of the Scottish Committee of the Council on Tribunals. Professor MacLeary, who replaces Mr John Elliot, is an honorary professor at the University of Heriot-Watt. He was a member of the Lands Tribunal for Scotland for 15 years until his retiral earlier this year. Formerly he was MacRobert Professor of Land Economy at the University of Aberdeen.
Professor MacLeary does not presently hold any other public appointments but he has previously been a member of various public bodies including the National Environment Research Council and the Scottish Valuation and Rating Council. This appointment will be for four years and will run from 1 September 2005 to 31 August 2009. The post is part-time and attracts a remuneration of £25,271 for a time commitment of 65 days per annum.
The Council on Tribunals and its Scottish Committee are independent bodies first established in 1958 and now operating under the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992. The Scottish Committee comprises three members of the Council (including this post) appointed jointly by the Lord Chancellor and Scottish Ministers, plus a further four persons appointed solely by Scottish Ministers.
This Ministerial public appointment does not fall within the remit of either the UK Commissioner or the Scottish Commissioner for Public Appointments; nevertheless, the spirit of the Scottish Commissioner's Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies has been applied to the appointment process.
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 there is any to be declared) to be made public. In this case, no political activity has been declared.
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