New appointment of Parole Board member
The Secretary of State for Justice has approved the appointment of Sir John Saunders as a new member of the Parole Board.
The Secretary of State for Justice has appointed the Honourable Sir John Saunders as a judicial member of the Parole Board. In addition, the Chair of the Parole Board, Professor Nick Hardwick, has designated Sir John Saunders as the Board’s Vice Chair.
The selection process was conducted in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice on appointments to Public Bodies.
The Parole Board is an Independent Executive Non Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. The Parole Board works with its criminal justice partners to protect the public by risk assessing prisoners to decide whether they can be safely released into the community. It was established by the Criminal Justice Act 1967.
The Vice Chair will be expected to share in the leadership and governance of the Parole Board.
Biography
The Honourable Sir John Saunders was called to the Bar (Gray’s Inn) in 1972, and was appointed as a Queen’s Counsel in 1991. He was appointed as a Recorder in 1990, and became a Senior Circuit Judge and the Recorder of Birmingham in 2004. In 2007 he was appointed as a High Court Judge in the Queen’s Bench Division. He was Presiding Judge on the South Eastern Circuit from 2009–2012.