§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the process by which(a) chairmen and (b) members of regional development agencies are appointed. [75238]
§ Alan JohnsonThe process for appointing both the Regional Development Agency Chairs and Board Members is run according to the Code of Practice issued by the Office for the Commissioner of Public Appointments (OCPA).
71WAppointments are made on merit, following open competition, application and formal interviews. Each applicant is assessed against the selection criteria, as set out in the person specification for the post. Some candidates for the RDA Chair positions were identified through executive search. These candidates went through the same process (including interviews) and were assessed on the same criteria as candidates who responded to the advertisement.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the members of each regional development agency stating for each member the(a) date of, (b) length of, their appointment and (c) their qualifications for the job. [75237]
§ Ms HewittThe dates of appointment for current Regional Development Agency (RDA) board members are detailed in the table below.
The Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 states that in appointing members to the RDA Boards, "the Secretary of State shall have regard to the desirability of appointing a person who has experience of, and has shown capacity in, some matter relevant to the functions of the agency.
Board members' backgrounds include trade unions, the voluntary sector and rural interests; and at least half the members have current or recent business experience. On each RDA board, four of the board members are drawn from local government.
Before being appointed to the boards, potential board members are assessed against the criteria set out in the person specification for the posts.
72W
Date of first appointment Date of re-appointment Expiry date of appointment Advantage West Midlands Stephenson Alex 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Barnes Richard 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/04 Bhattacharyya Kumar 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 Bore Albert 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Davies Sue 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/04 Harris Anthony 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 Holmes Bill 11/02/02 13/12/04 Kaur Stubbs Sukhvinder 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 King Christine 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 Moore Isabella 14/12/01 13/12/04 Price Norman 14/04/00 13/04/03 Sealey Tony 14/12/01 13/12/04 Sparkes David 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Tilsley Paul 14/12/01 13/12/04 Woods-Scawen Brian 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 East of England Regional Development Agency Watts Vincent 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 Ali Roger 14/12/01 13/12/04 Bagnall Ruth 14/12/01 13/12/04 Brinton Sal 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/04 Cereste Marco 14/12/01 13/12/04 Cherry Alan 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Grant Greg 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 Martin Peter 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Murray Leo 14/12/01 13/12/04 Paveley Chris 14/12/01 13/12/04 Powell Richard 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 73W
Date of first appointment Date of re-appointment Expiry date of appointment Reyner Neville 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 Shariff Yasmin 14/12/01 13/12/04 Skinner Marie 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 East Midlands Development Agency Mapp Derek 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/04 Bilgan Kashmir 14/12/01 13/12/04 Bradford Jane 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/04 Carr Bryan 14/12/99 14/12/02 13/12/05 Chapman Graham 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/04 Gadsby Peter 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Gardner Gill 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Gemmell Samantha 14/12/01 13/12/04 McLeod Jonathan 14/12/01 13/12/04 Patel Rita 14/12/01 13/12/04 Ramsden Peter 14/12/01 13/12/04 Scarborough Andrew 14/12/01 13/12/04 Morgan-Webb Patricia 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/04 Whittaker Ron 14/12/99 14/12/02 13/12/05 Wood Christine 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 North West Development Agency Gray Bryan 01/04/02 31/03/05 Chamberlain Neville 14/12/01 13/12/04 Doyle Miichael 14/12/98 14/12/02 13/12/02 Dunning John 14/12/98 14/12/02 13/12/04 Goodey Felicity 14/12/98 14/12/02 13/12/02 Harris Martin 14/12/01 13/12/04 Jeanes Clive 14/12/98 14/12/02 13/12/03 Lane Pauleen 14/12/01 13/12/04 Leese Richard 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 Manning Alan 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 Mendoros Dennis 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/04 Reade Kath 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Ruia Anil 14/12/01 13/12/04 Smith Brenda 14/12/01 13/12/04 Storey Michael 14/12/01 13/12/04 One North East Bridge John 14/12/98 16/07/01 13/12/03 Arkley Alistair 14/12/98 19/12/01 13/12/03 Cantle-Jones Tim 07/12/01 13/12/04 Dennis Barbara 14/12/98 19/12/01 13/12/03 Edwards Christopher 07/12/01 13/12/04 Fisher Jackie 07/12/01 13/12/04 Hodgson Geoff 07/12/01 13/12/04 Hughes Philllip 14/12/98 19/12/01 13/12/04 Maudslay Richard 14/12/98 19/12/01 13/12/04 Nolan Jane 07/12/01 13/12/04 Stringfellow Rita 14/12/98 19/12/01 13/12/02 Walsh David 07/12/01 13/12/04 Williams John 14/12/98 07/02/02 13/12/02 Wilson Susan 14/12/98 19/12/01 13/12/01 South East England Development Agency Willett Allan 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Bodfish Ken 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 Booth Clive 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/04 Brathwaite James 14/12/01 13/12/04 Brighouse Elizabeth 14/12/01 13/12/04 Camfield Barry 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/03 Douglas Robert 14/12/01 13/12/04 Kong Janis 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/04 McAnally Mary 01/11/00 31/10/03 Oliver Kit 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Read Peter 01/11/00 31/10/03
Date of first appointment Date of re-appointment Expiry date of appointment Thornber Thomas (Kenneth) 14/12/01 13/12/04 Ward Sarah 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Williams Caroline 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 Wilson Kevin 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/02 South West of England Regional Development Agency Lickiss Michael 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Ansari Doris 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Buckland Nicholas 14/12/01 13/12/04 Chalke Peter 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Costley Nigel 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Holland Helen 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Kemp Brian 14/12/01 13/12/04 Leece Michael 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Morris Alfred 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Nicholl Robin 14/12/01 13/12/04 Pope Jeremy 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Porritt Jonathon 15/12/99 15/12/02 14/12/02 Skellett Colin 14/12/01 13/12/04 Yorkshire Forward Hall Graham 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Ashcroft John 15/12/99 14/12/02 Barker Muriel 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Bosomworth Eileen 14/12/01 13/12/04 Coburn Jeanne 17/10/00 16/10/03 Cummins Julian 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Greenwood Brian 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Gregory Richard 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Haskins Christopher 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Hougton Stephen 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Jagger Paul 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 King Christopher 14/12/01 13/12/04 Malik Adeeba 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01 Pinnock Kathryn 14/12/01 13/12/04 Warhurst Pamela 14/12/98 14/12/01 13/12/01
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the known political affiliations of members of the regional development agencies, stating whether she and her predecessors(a) had this information at the time of appointment of and (b) took account of the information when making the appointment. [75235]
§ Ms HewittI refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 8 July 2002,Official Report, column 674W, which listed the political affiliation of Regional Development Agency (RDA) board members as declared under the Office for the Commissioner of Public Appointments (OCPA) Code of Practice.
This information is required under the OCPA code as part of the application process for all public appointments. It is not part of the information used when deciding whom to appoint. The exception to this is the four local authority posts on each RDA board. Information on political affiliation is taken into account by Ministers making these appointments, as the aim is for RDA boards to reflect generally the political make up of their region. However, even for local authority appointments, political balance is a secondary consideration to the overriding principle of appointment on merit.
74W
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the number of applicants for each vacancy for membership of the regional development agencies. [75236]
§ Ms HewittInformation on the current appointments process for RDA board members (outside London) is set out in the table below.
RDA Post Number of Applications1 AWM Business 34 Local Authority2 13 Multiple3 2 NWDA Business4 52 Local Authority 13 Voluntary Sector4 22 Multiple3 1 EMDA Local Authority 12 Trade Union 3 Business5 7 Higher/Further Education5 1 Multiple3 2 SEEDA Business2 59 Local Authority2 33 Rural 6 Voluntary Sector5 1 Social Enterprise5 2 Higher/Further Education5 1 Multiple3 2 Yorkshire Forward Business6 37 Higher/Further Education5 3 Local Authority5 3 Rural6 4 Multiple3 4 ONE Business2 33 Local Authority 24 Trade Union 7 Multiple3 1 EEDA Business 42 Local Authority2 15 Trade Union5 1 Multiple3 3 SWRDA Business 51 Higher Education 12 Local Authority 23 Social Enterprise 15 Trade Union5 1 Voluntary Sector5 2 Multiple3 5 Notes:
1 Some candidates applied for posts in more than one region.
2 2 posts.
3 Applicant claimed primary experience in more than one sector.
4 NWDA needs 1 business person and 1 either business or voluntary sector.
5 No vacancy in this field on this board.
6 Yorkshire Forward needs 2 business people, ideally 1 with a strong link to the rural economy.