Appointment of 48 Parole Board members
The Secretary of State has announced the appointment of 48 Parole Board members.
The Secretary of State has approved the appointment of 48 members to the Parole Board, the re-appointment of one independent member and the extension of the appointments of 45 independent members.
The 48 new members comprise 27 independent, two retired judicial, 10 psychologist members and 9 serving judges. The independent, retired judicial and psychologist appointments follow the recent and highly successful recruitment campaign.
New appointments
Independent members
The following list of appointees commenced their tenure on 1 October 2019 for a period of 5 years:
- Maneer Afsar
- Ifty Ahmed
- Aysha Allibhaye
- Richard Bayly
- Zaiada Bibi
- Sarah Bodell
- Malcolm Brain
- Derek Bray
- Marcia Brooks
- Lyn Cole
- Rachel Craven
- Damian Hughes
- Akeel Hussain
- Murad Hussain
- Stephen Garrett
- David Gravells
- Sara Johnson
- Michael Mellun
- Jenny Mooney
- Sukbinder Rai
- Rachel Robertson
- Joanna Hinds
- Vicky Pails
- Shubhada Patil
- Rachel Pickering
- Vinnett Walsh
- Sheila Wright
In addition Kate Nickels was appointed from 1 November 2018 for a period of 3 years.
Retired judicial members
The Secretary of State has appointed Stephen Silber and Timothy King for a period of 5 years, commencing on 1 October 2019.
Psychologist members
The following list of appointees commenced their tenure on 1 October 2019 for a period of 5 years:
- Rachel Atkinson
- Taljinder Basra
- Aimee Croft
- Christopher Dean
- Gerhard Fritz
- Julia Houston
- Noreen Shami
- Sarah Snuggs
- Claire Thompson
- Victoria Tunbridge
Serving judicial members
The following list of appointees commenced their tenure on 1 October 2019 for a period of 3 years:
- Bernadette Baxter
- Rebecca Crane
- Ruth Downing
- David Farrell
- Vanessa Francis
- Andrew Jefferies
- Anthony Lowe
- Barbara Mensah
- Elizabeth Smaller
Reappointments and extensions
The Secretary of State reappointed Sarah Wells for a further term of 5 years from 1st December 2019 until 31 January 2024.
The appointments of the members and panel chairs listed below have been extended for a period of 2 years from 1 October 2019:
- Richard Baldwin
- Jane Christian
- Lucy Gampell
- Ronno Griffiths
- Glyn Hibberd
- Heidi Leavesley
- Brenda McAll-Kersting
- Celeste Myrie
- David Mylan
- Aruna Walsh
Retired judicial member extension
The appointment of Edward Slinger as a retired Judicial Member and panel chair has been extended for a period of 2 years from 1 October 2019.
The Parole Board’s functions and duties are set out in Section 239 and Schedule 19 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Parole Board members make risk assessments about prisoners to decide who may safely be released into the community or make recommendations for transfer to open prison conditions.
Appointments and re-appointments to the Parole Board are regulated - save for retired and serving judicial members - by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. These appointments have been made in line with the Cabinet Office Governance Code on Public Appointments.
The Parole Board was established by the Criminal Justice Act 1967. It is an Executive Non- Departmental Public Body sponsored by MOJ.