§ 35. Ms BuckTo ask the Solicitor-General what criteria were adopted in the selection process for the recently appointed Treasury Solicitor. [131299]
The Solicitor-GeneralThe essential criterion used in selecting the new Treasury Solicitor was whether he or she could fulfil the role. This means that the successful candidate should, among other things, be able personally to give advice to Ministers on a range of legal issues, often of a highly sensitive nature; be able to act as the Chief Executive of the Treasury Solicitor's Department, which is an executive agency; be able to act as Head of the Government Legal Service with overall responsibility for recruitment, training and career development of some 1,300 Government lawyers; and, finally, be able to implement the Modernising Government programme within the Government Legal Service. Miss Juliet Wheldon, who is the new Treasury solicitor, fully meets all of these requirements.