21 June 2007
Justice Minister Baroness Ashton today announced the appointment of the seven inaugural members of the Public Guardian Board.
The Public Guardian Board is a new non-executive Board set up under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to scrutinise and review the way in which the Public Guardian discharges his functions and to make recommendations to the Lord Chancellor.
The Public Guardian protects people who lack capacity. From October 2007, the Public Guardian will take on a range of functions to ensure that people appointed under a lasting or enduring power of attorney, or as deputies by the court, discharge their duties properly.
The Board is operating in shadow form until October 2007 when it will take on its full statutory role. Board members have been appointed for a period of up to four years. Regulations covering the selection of the chair, the tenure of office of members and the procedure of the Board were laid in Parliament today.
Speaking about the appointments Baroness Ashton said:
These appointments mark yet another milestone in the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act. The Board has an important task ensuring effective scrutiny of the role of the Public Guardian.
The Board members bring with them a wealth of experience of service delivery in relation to services for people who lack mental capacity and other areas of the public and private sector.
Rosie Varley, new member and the first chair of the Board, said:
I am looking forward to working with the Board members and have every confidence the Board will further enhance the important work of the Public Guardian and ensure that high quality services are delivered to people who lack capacity, their carers, and the wider public.
The members are:
Rosie Varley OBE (chair)
Rosie Varley has many years' experience of leading major public bodies, and a long-term commitment to improving the quality of services provided to vulnerable people. She is currently Chairman of the General Optical Council (the regulatory body for the optical professions and industry), Vice Chairman of the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (which oversees all health regulatory bodies) and a member of the Mental Health and Disability Tribunal. Ms Varley was previously a NHS Appointments Commissioner.
Ms Varley has also cared for a family member with a major mental illness and has managed the affairs of two elderly and disabled parents. She is actively involved with several voluntary organisations supporting people with mental illness and substance misuse and their families and carers. In 2007 Ms Varley was awarded the OBE for services to the NHS.
Lionel Joyce OBE
Lionel Joyce is a service-user with a diagnosis of bipolar illness and a history of alcohol abuse. He was Chief Executive of Newcastle Mental Health Services during its many incarnations, which saw it became a national leader in community mental health teams, user involvement, home treatment, child and adolescent mental health services, and old age psychiatry (the leading research centre in Europe).
He founded the NHS Confederation Mental Health Committee and also the Urban Group of Mental Health Trusts and was influential in the creation of the National Institute of Mental Health. He is the Legal Services Commissioner for the North East and Yorkshire.
Mr Joyce was previously Chair of Turning Point, a national social care charity, and Chair of Mental Health Providers (a national forum for volunteer and community sector providers of mental health services).
Suzanne McCarthy
Suzanne McCarthy is currently the Immigration Services Commissioner. Prior to that she was Chief Executive of the Human Fertilisation Authority (1996 to 2000) and thereafter Chief Executive of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (2000 to 2004). She is the Deputy Chairman of the Council of the University of London and a non-executive director of the Royal Institute of British Architects. She is also a member of both the Pension Regulator's Determinations Panel and the Disciplinary Panel of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Ms McCarthy is a senior civil servant and has held a variety of positions within Whitehall. Prior to joining the civil service she worked as a solicitor in private practice and taught law at Manchester University.
Maurice Rumbold
Maurice Rumbold is a qualified social worker who has worked for a number of local authority social services departments and also in a range of senior managerial positions. In 1988 he joined National Children's Home where he was responsible for turning it into the largest charity for services to children, young people and their families in the UK. During his time with National Children's Home the number of services grew to in excess of 500 with a budget of £200 million. Each year, over 140,000 children and their families were helped via a range of projects that included adoption and fostering, family support, residential schools, disability services and alternatives to custody. His last role with National Children's Home was as Chief Executive. Mr Rumbold now works as a consultant.
Deep Sagar
Deep Sagar has a wide range of experience combining governance roles with management consultancy. Among his current roles are Chair of Turnstone Support and non-executive director of the Expert Patients Programme. Previously, his career spanned 20 years for multinationals like Coca-Cola and Unilever Bestfoods in senior management positions internationally.
Sue Whittaker
Sue Whittaker was an NHS chairman for over eight years until 2006. First she chaired Northgate and Prudhoe, the UK's largest specialist learning disability trust, and then Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health NHS Trust. She was a member of the NHS Confederation Council, the Confederation's Mental Health Advisory Group and she chaired the Mental Health and Learning Disability Chairs Forum.
Ms Whittaker was also a member of the NHS Employers Policy Board and Assembly. She was a National Mental Health Service Development Champion and served on the NHS Executive's Advisory Group on Developing NHS Leadership on Equality and Diversity. She was co-founder and chair of the Northern Mental Health and Learning Disability Chairs Group and a journalist on the Guardian newspaper and with BBC TV and Radio. She is also a Northumberland magistrate.
Her Honour Judge Hazel Marshall QC
Judge Marshall is the senior Chancery Judge at the Central London Civil Justice Centre and is an appointed specialist Judge authorised to hear cases under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, with special reference to property matters. She was formerly in practice at the Chancery Bar as Hazel Williamson QC, with a broad general Chancery practice including cases with the former Court of Protection. She is a former Chairman of the Chancery Bar Association.
Notes to editors
- The Public Guardian Board is established by Section 59 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
- The statutory office of Public Guardian is established by section 57 and 58 of the Act.
- The ministerial appointments to the Board were made in accordance with the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The appointments were made on merit and political activity played no part in the selection process. Board members declared no political activity in the last five years.
- The Lord Chief Justice appoints the judge member of the Board.
- For more information, please call Kathryn Montague, Ministry of Justice Press Office, on 020 7210 1397.
ENDS