9 March 2018
MembersAppointed to Scottish Legal Aid Board
The Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs today announced the appointments of Brian Baverstock, Sheriff John Morris, Raymond McMenamin and Stephen Humphreys as Members of the Scottish Legal Aid Board.
MEMBERS
Brian Baverstock is a qualified accountant with a long career in the public sector in Scotland, most recently as a Member of the senior team at the Scottish Funding Council where his responsibilities included quality assurance and institutional governance and financial sustainability. Brian is currently an independent consultant specialising in public sector governance and risk management. Throughout much of his career Brian has been involved in public sector reform. As a founding Chief Executive of APUC Ltd, the procurement Centre of Expertise for Scotland’s universities and colleges, he led a fundamental programme of change to transform the efficiency and effectiveness of procurement activity across these sectors. Brian has over 8 years’ experience as a Non-Executive Director in the public and voluntary sector, most recently with Children’s Hearings Scotland and The Donaldson Trust. Before that he was a member of the Edinburgh Children’s Panel.
Sheriff John Morriswas educated at Alan Glen’s School, Glasgow and thereafter at Strathclyde University where he was awarded an LLB degree in 1975. John spent ten years as a solicitor and thereafter called to the Scottish Bar in 1985 and the English Bar in 1989. He was a temporary Sheriff from 1992 to 1998, a full time Sheriff from 1998 to 2017 and for the last 10 years has sat as a Temporary High Court Judge. John has extensive experience in the Scottish court system at all levels.
Raymond McMenamin who trained in Crown Office was admitted as a solicitor in 1982 and worked as a Procurator Fiscal Depute in Linlithgow and Glasgow before he moved to private practice gaining experience in both civil and criminal litigation and progressing to partner in the firm where he remained for 30 years, and 20 years as senior partner. He became a solicitor advocate (criminal) in 2000 and specialised in criminal law exercising rights of audience in the High Court on a regular basis. He was also a member of the Criminal Law Committee of the Law Society of Scotland between 2004 and 2016. In 2007 he was appointed as a part time Sheriff and was elected President of the Part Time Sheriff’s Association for 3 consecutive years from 2013 to 2016. In 2015 he was made Shrieval Convener of the Mental Health Tribunal of Scotland and in 2017 was appointed to the Board of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. He continues to practice as a Solicitor Advocate on an independent basis and sits regularly throughout Scotland as a Sheriff.
Stephen Humphreys is a former civil servant with 39 years’ experience of the justice system in both England, Wales and Scotland, most recently as an Executive Director of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the first Director of the Judicial Office for Scotland. Among a number of other roles before moving to Scotland he was Chief Executive of the Law Commission of England and Wales, and a Corporate Secretary to the Lord Chancellor’s Department overseeing the arrangements for corporate governance and strategic planning. He was responsible for the system of appointment to a range of judicial office and led policy development for civil legal aid, legal aid remuneration and the policy on the award of costs in civil proceeding in England and Wales. He brings experience of developing strategic and business plans, financial and performance management (including assessment and management of risk) and developing and implementing appropriate governance arrangements in organisations. He has been responsible for overseeing HR arrangements in organisations and implementing a major IT system.
APPOINTMENTS
The appointments will be for four years and will run from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2022.
Theappointments are regulated by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland.
REMUNERATION
The appointments attract a remuneration of £216.40 per day for a time commitment of 3.5 days per month.
OTHER MINISTERIAL APPOINTMENTS
Raymond McMenamin is a part time Sheriff of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service for which he receives remuneration of £627 per day, for a variable time commitment of 3 to 10 days per month. He is also a Member of Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission for which he receives remuneration of £252 per day for a time commitment of 3 days per month.
Brian Baverstock, Sheriff John Morris and Stephen Humphreysdo not hold any other ministerial public appointments.
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public. Brian Baverstock, Sheriff John Morris, Raymond McMenamin and Stephen Humphreys have had no political activity within the last five years.
BACKGROUND
The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) was set up in1987 to manage legal aid in Scotland and is a non-departmental public body responsible to the Scottish Government. Legal aid allows people who would otherwise notbe able to afford it, to get help for their legal problems.
The Scottish Legal Aid Board’s work is overseen by Board Members, who are appointed by Scottish Ministers. The number of Members can vary from11 to15. To give a balanced range of knowledge and experience, they include people with backgrounds in business, the advice sector and the wider community as well as solicitors and advocates and a person with knowledge of court procedure and practice.