Membership
Details of the council's members and Assay Office representatives.
The British Hallmarking Council was set up under the Hallmarking Act 1973, and came into existence on 1 January 1974. The act requires that it is made up of between 16 and 19 members, 10 of whom are appointed by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.
Council members
Chairman
Noel Hunter OBE
Noel Hunter was appointed Chairman of the British Hallmarking Council on 6 April 2017. Noel is a Fellow of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Institute of Consumer Affairs. He is also Vice President of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and member of its board. He is Chairman of the Consumer Code for Home Builders and Chairman of the Myton Hospices and is an Independent member of the Disciplinary Tribunal for National Association of Estate Agents. He is a former warden of the Birmingham Assay Office.
Secretary
Sue Green
Sue works independently for the British Hallmarking Council. The Secretary is not a member of the council.
Appointees from the Department for Business and Trade
Ken Daly
Ken is the Trading Standards National Co-ordinator for Scotland, employed by SCOTSS, a charitable organisation of Scottish Chief Officers. A former Head of Trading Standards in the City of Dundee, and a Fellow of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, Ken is also a non-executive director of the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme operated by CTSI.
Appointed: 1 January 2019
Reappointed 29 April 2021 (for a second term)
Term ends: 31 December 2024
Patrick Fuller
Patrick is a former chairman of one of the largest manufacturing jewellery companies in the UK and is past president and chairman of three trade associations including the National Association of Jewellers. He is a previous member of the British Hallmarking Council from the late 1990’s. He is Liveryman of the Goldsmiths’ Company and Freeman of the City of London.
Appointed: 1 January 2019
Reappointed 29 April 2021 (for a second term)
Term ends: 31 December 2024
Joanna Hardy
Joanna is an independent fine jewellery specialist with over 35 years’ experience working in the jewellery industry. She lectures and writes articles for publications worldwide and is a published author. She curates contemporary jewellery exhibitions and has recently launched her Online Fine Jewellery School. Joanna is a Fellow of the Gemmological Association, Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, a Liveryman and Court Assistant of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths as well as being a regular jewellery specialist on the television series BBC Antiques Roadshow.
Appointed: 25 March 2020
Reappointed 1 August 2022 (for a second term)
Term ends: 31 December 2025
Rachel Holloway
Rachel Holloway is the CEO of Partners for Reform and specialises in the management of change and the improvement of governance.
Rachel has worked in senior roles both internationally for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), for the UK civil service and a Trade Association.
Appointed: 1 January 2022
Term ends: 31 December 2024
Sarah Langley
Sarah Langley is a Chartered Trading Standards Practitioner with over 25 years of consumer protection experience. Sarah is currently Managing Director of Consumer Code for New Homes.
She previously worked for a variety of local authority regulatory service departments, responsible for a range of consumer protection functions, and roles in Corporate Services. After a successful public sector career, both as an operational officer and latterly as a senior manager, Sarah set up her own consultancy business providing consultancy services to private and public sector clients for over 10 years, including National Trading Standards.
Sarah was previously Service Director at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute responsible for the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme and Business Companion regulatory advice service.
Appointed: 1 January 2022
Term ends: 31 December 2024
Fakir Osman
Fakir Osman is the Head of Trading Standards for the Heart of the South West.
He has worked in Trading Standards for over 20 years undertaking various roles both for a County Council and a Unitary Authority.
Appointed: 1 January 2023
Term ends: 31 December 2026
Gay Penfold
Gay was the Centre Manager of the Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre, School of Jewellery, Birmingham City University. She is also a freeman of the Goldsmiths Company and the City of London, a Trustee of the Benevolent Society, and a Panel Member of the South Yorkshire Community Fund.
Appointed: 1 January 2020
Reappointed 1 August 2022 (for a second term)
Term ends: 31 December 2025
Isobel Pollock-Hulf
Isobel is Chair of Programme Expert Group (PEG) for Digital covering Data, Quantum, Electromagnetics and Time at the National Physical Laboratory, and also a board member at the NPL Science and Technology Advisory Council. She is a Visiting Professor in Engineering Design at the University of Leeds. She was previously Chair of the National Measurement and Regulation Office Steering Board. She is Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Engineers and Past President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Appointed: 1 January 2019
Reappointed 29 April 2021 (for a second term)
Term ends: 31 December 2024
Chris Sellors
Holding over 40 years’ in business and as founder and Managing Director of C W Sellors Fine Jewellery, Chris is passionate about keeping British gemstone design and manufacturing alive and at the forefront of the UK Jewellery Industry.
Appointed: 25 March 2020
Reappointed 1 August 2022 (for a second term)
Term ends: 31 December 2025
Vanessa Sharp
Vanessa is a non-executive board member at Companies House. She is former General Counsel at KPMG. She is an independent non-executive director of ICE Futures Europe Ltd, chair of its Authorisation, Rules and Conduct Committee and a member of its Risk and Audit Committee. She is an independent non-executive director of Newable, chair of its Risk Committee and a member of its Audit Review Committee. She is an independent non-executive director of Hill Robinson Group Ltd. She is a trustee of the charity Create Arts and a practising jeweller and silversmith.
Appointed: 1 January 2019
Reappointed 29 April 2021 (for a second term)
Term ends: 31 December 2024
Assay Office representatives
London
Tom Franks
Tom Franks is Chair of the London Assay Office Management Board.
Sheffield
Charles Turner
Charles is Chairman of the Guardians of the Sheffield Assay Office. His day job is as Managing Director of Durham-Duplex, a machine knife, hand knife and industrial blade manufacturer. He also Chairs “Made in Sheffield” which promotes the use of the “Made in Sheffield Mark” by Sheffield’s manufacturing industries.
Birmingham
Russell Jeans
Russell Jeans is Chairman of the Birmingham Assay Office. He is a qualified recruiter and CEO at Sefton & Associates. He is an ambassador for the Institute of Directors and a Council member for Burton and District and Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce.
Gary Wroe
Gary is a Warden of the Birmingham Assay Office with over 30 years’ experience working at Hockley Mint Ltd, a manufacturing jewellers. Gary is active on numerous boards to develop and promote the jewellery industry.
Edinburgh
Tom Murray
Tom is Deacon of the Incorporation of Goldsmiths in Edinburgh. He is the founding director of Charityflow, a trustee of Mercy Corps and is the Purse Bearer to the Lord High Commissioner.
Co-opted members
Matthew Sibley
Matthew is the Law Clerk of the Sheffield Office.
John Stirling
John is Law Clerk to Edinburgh Assay Office and a solicitor in Edinburgh.
Committees
There are 5 committees:
Applications Committee
The remit of the Applications Committee is to:
- consider applications from assay offices to set up sub-offices or engage in on-site hallmarking
- authorise temporary sub-offices and on-site hallmarking
- recommend protocols for applications
- monitor the conduct of all approved operations
Applications Committee standing orders.
Education and Enforcement Committee
The Education and Enforcement Committee works with Trading Standards, the assay offices and the industry to:
- increase awareness and enforcement activity
- increase consumer understanding
- deliver the Touchstone Award and develop it for the future
The committee is made up of DBT-appointed and assay office council members and 1 assay office representative to assist with press statements and publicity.
Education and Enforcement Committee standing orders.
Joint Assay Offices Committee
The remit of the Joint Assay Offices Committee is to make recommendations to the council regarding the discharge of its statutory powers and duties under the Hallmarking Act, in particular with regard to:
- enforcement
- advising the Secretary of State
- amendments to the Hallmarking Act
- strategic matters referred to it by the council
Joint Assay Offices Committee standing orders.
Remuneration Committee
The Remuneration Committee recommends to the Council and monitors the remuneration of the BHC Chair, Secretary and any other role it is designated to consider, and fees paid to professional advisers and others.
Remuneration Committee standing orders
Technical Committee
The Technical Committee considers and makes recommendations to the council on a number of areas, including:
- technical aspects of hallmarking
- technical matters referred to the council
- refusals to hallmark any articles by an assay office following an appeal
Technical Committee standing orders.
Meeting minutes
The British Hallmarking Council meets twice a year, usually in April and October. Papers are available once the minutes have been agreed, which is usually after the following full meeting of the council.