2 The selection process
3. In order to assist with identifying possible
candidates for the post of Chairman of the Commission in succession
to Mr Sam Younger, Mr Speaker in January 2008 appointed the following
Panel:
- Baroness Fritchie of Gloucester
DBE (Chair)
- Ms Cindy Butts (nominated by the office of the
Commissioner for Public Appointments, OCPA)
- Sir Neil McIntosh CBE (a former Electoral Commissioner)
- Mr David Norgrove (Chair of the Pensions Regulator)
- Sir Peter Viggers MP (representing the Speaker's
Committee)
4. The post of Electoral Commissioner does not
fall to be monitored by the Office of the Commissioner for Public
Appointments, but Mr Speaker and the Speaker's Committee agreed
that it was desirable that this appointment, like the 2007 appointments
of four Commissioners, should be treated as though it were subject
to such monitoring.
5. The Panel began work in January and its Chair
made her report to Mr Speaker in May. Following advertisement
in the national press and a search by recruitment consultants,
13 of the 37 applicants were long-listed for initial interview,
of whom four were called for final interview. The Committee is
entirely satisfied that the selection process was rigorous and
that the Panel discharged its duties conscientiously and with
all due regard to the requirements of thoroughness, fairness and
propriety. The process was certified by the OCPA representative
as fully compliant with its requirements. The Committee is grateful
to Baroness Fritchie and her fellow Panel members.
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