22 July 2008
Sir Bill Callaghan has been appointed the new Chair of the Legal Services Commission by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Jack Straw.
Sir Bill will chair the 12 member commission, which oversees the strategic direction of the Legal Services Commission, the body responsible for legal aid in England and Wales. The appointment will take effect from 1 September 2008 for a term of three years.
He joins the commission having had a distinguished career as chair of the Health and Safety Commission. He was previously the Chief Economist and Head of the Economic and Social Affairs Department at the Trade Union Congress. He served on the Low Pay Commission from 1997 to 2000 and played a key role in the introduction of the national minimum wage in April 1999.
Notes to editors
1. Sir Bill Callaghan was educated at St John's College, Oxford where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics and the University of Kent at Canterbury where he gained an MA in Economics. He started his career as a junior official in the TUC, Economic Department, and spent 28 years with the TUC, finally leaving as the Head of TUC Economic and Social Affairs Department. He then moved to chair the Health and Safety Commission where he was responsible to Department for Work and Pensions ministers for advice on health and safety policy, the performance of Commissioners, the appointment of the Chief Executive and the strategic oversight of the work of the Health and Safety Executive. He has since led a review into the regulation of animal pathogens for Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and is an independent member of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff Review into HE Finance and Pay Data. He is a justice of the peace and has no other public appointments and made no political declarations.
2. His career highlights include raising the profile of health and safety through a high level representational role in the media, with employers and trade unions, and with Ministers; and strengthening the Commission's strategic role. At the TUC he drew up the TUC's policy on the national minimum wage, developed the TUC's policy on partnership at work.
3. Sir Bill's appointment was made in accordance with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments code of practice, on merit. The appointment will be part-time with an expected time commitment of up to 60 days per year at £54,000.
4. The Legal Services Commission was established on 1 April 2000 under the provisions of the Access to Justice Act 1999, in succession to the Legal Aid Board and with a significantly wider remit. Its role is to fund legal and advice services in England and Wales, to identify unmet need and to develop providers and innovate services to meet priority needs identified. Each year the Commission spends more than £2 billion to ensure that more than two million people get the help they need.
5. The Commission operates two schemes:
The Community Legal Service
CLS provides the framework for local networks of legal and advice services, supported by local partnerships of funders and service providers, and funds civil legal and advice services and civil representation. Provision of quality legal services is made for people who cannot afford them, by matching priority needs with available resources.
The Criminal Defence Service
CDS principally funds duty solicitor work and advice and representation in the magistrates' court, to those suspected or accused of crimes through a mix of contracts with private lawyers and salaried defenders.
6. Sir Michael Bichard steps down as Chair of the Commission at the end of August.
7. For more information, please contact the Ministry of Justice Press Office on 020 7210 8822.