Sunday 22 April 2012

Who is going to select the new President of the Supreme Court?



Schedule 8 Constitutional Reform Act 2005 requires a commission constituted as follows:

A selection commission consists of the following members—
(a)the President of the Supreme Court;
(b)the Deputy President of the Supreme Court;
(c)one member of each of the following bodies—
(i)the Judicial Appointments Commission;
(ii)the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland;
(iii)the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission.


We know who Lords Phillips and Lord Hope are and we know what they do in real lilfe - what about the lay majority? JAC Scotland and the JAC have sent their chairs.  NI's chair is the LCJ of NI and so a lay member has been sent.

So who are they?

A consultant clinical psychologist from Belfast, the former top civil servant in Scotland and the Principal of the University of Glasgow and a corporate chair from London. The corporate, civil service, academic and scientific/medical worlds all represented - a cosy professionals get together...but would our elected representatives do any better?

Should be interesting.....................




Professor Nichola Rooney

Judicial Appointments Commission for Northern Ireland

Professor Rooney has been a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the Health Service for 18 years. For the past 9 years she has worked as a senior manager at the Royal Hospitals Belfast and since 2008 has been Head of Psychological Services at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. From 2002 - 2004 Professor Rooney was appointed by the Minister for Health as a member of the Human Organs Inquiry Relative's Reference Group. She has been involved in a number of Department of Health Committees for Policy Development, most recently in relation to the organisation and delivery of Psychological Therapies in Northern Ireland.

Professor Rooney is Chair of the Division of Clinical Psychology Northern Ireland, a member of the Executive of the Division of Clinical Psychology UK and a Professional Officer of the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority Mental Health and Learning Disability Review Team.

Her research in the area of Child Psychology has been disseminated through publication in academic journals and presentations at national and international conferences.

As an honorary senior lecturer at Queen's University Belfast, Professor Rooney has lectured frequently on post-graduate medical and clinical psychology doctorate courses. She is a member of the Board of Studies for the Clinical Psychology Doctorate.





Sir Muir Russell KCB

Chair, Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland


He joined the Scottish Office in 1970 and became Secretary of the Scottish Development Agency on its establishment in Glasgow in 1975. He wasPrincipal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Scotland from 1981 to 1983 and was seconded to the Cabinet Office in 1990. He was appointed Permanent Secretary at The Scottish Office in May 1998, and to the Scottish Executive since its establishment in 1999.

He was widely believed to be primarily responsible for the massive overspend on the new Scottish Parliament Building and was criticised by Lord Fraser of Carmyllie's enquiry for failing to keep the politicians informed that the expenditure was far in excess of the budget.He took office as Principal of the University of Glasgow on 1 October 2003, but attracted much criticism for his handling of the 2006 lecturers' strike, as well as attempts to close the University'sCrichton Campus in Dumfries and for receiving pay rises which were much greater than the rate of inflation.[2] He retired in October 2009, and was succeeded by Professor Anton Muscatelli, former Vice-Principal of the University and former Principal of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. On 7 October 2008, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced Sir Muir would succeed Sir Neil McIntosh as Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.[3]
In December 2009 he was appointed to head an independent investigation[4][5] into allegations concerning the Climatic Research Unit email controversy. The inquiry reported on 7 July 2010, largely clearing the UEA of the allegations. However, the panel also concluded the scientists were insufficiently open about their work and unhelpful and defensive in response to freedom of information requests. [1]. Critics characterized the Russell Report as a "whitewash" [6]


Christopher Stephens
Chair, Judicial Appointments Commission for England and Wales

Christopher Stephens is a non-executive director of WSP, a global engineering consultancy and Holidaybreak plc. He was Chairman of the DHL (UK) Foundation, a charity committed to community development and education projects both in the UK and worldwide, until May 2011 and Chairman of Traidcraft plc until March 2011. Christopher was a member of the Senior Salaries Review Board and a Civil Service Commissioner. Until 2004, he was Group Human Resources Director of Exel (now DHL).


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