New Non-Executive Member for the Competition Service
Susan Scholefield CMG has been appointed as Non-Executive Member to the Competition Service.
Competition Minister, Jo Swinson today announced the appointment of Susan Scholefield CMG, as Non-Executive Member to the Competition Service.
The Competition Service funds and provides support services to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT). The support services it provides covers everything necessary to facilitate the carrying out by the Competition Appeal Tribunal of its statutory functions and includes, for example, specialist legal, administrative staff, and accommodation services.
Competition Minister, Jo Swinson said:
The knowledge and experience of members makes a vital contribution to the excellent work of the Competition Service.
I am pleased to welcome Susan Scholefield as the non executive member. She brings with her an impressive wealth of knowledge and experience from a distinguished and varied career and will be a great asset to the UK’s competition regime.
Notes to editors
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This appointment has been made in accordance with the requirements of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
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The appointment was offered on the basis that non-executive members are paid on a per day rate of £350 and requiring a commitment of approximately 12 days a year. Meetings will take place in London on average 4 times a year, although members would receive papers and be asked to advise on particular issues at other times throughout the year. Meetings of the Audit Committee also occur 4 times a year.
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Ms Susan Scholefield has been appointed for 4 years from 1 November 2013. She is currently the LSE’s School Secretary where she supports the Director and Chairman of Court and Council on governance, legal compliance, planning and ethics issues as well as contributing to the strategic direction of the School. She also manages the Directorates of Human Resources, External Relations and the Library. She is an adviser to the National Audit Office on Civil Service Reform. She had an early academic career at the University of California, then joined the Civil Service and rose to senior roles in the Balkans Secretariat, Northern Ireland Office, Communities Department and the Cabinet Office as head of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat. She was also Director General, Human Resources and Corporate Services at the Ministry of Defence. In 1999 she was awarded a CMG in the New Year’s Honours for her work on Bosnia.
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Susan Scholefield is not involved in any party political activities and does not hold any other public or ministerial appointments.
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The Competition Appeal Tribunal was created under the Enterprise Act 2002. The Competition Service is an executive Non Departmental Body (NDPB), set up also under the Enterprise Act 2002, to provide the administrative staff, finance and accommodation that the Tribunal requires in order to carry out its functions.
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The CAT is a specialist judicial body with cross-disciplinary expertise in law, economics, business and accountancy. Under UK law, the function of the CAT is to hear and decide appeals and other applications or claims involving competition or economic regulatory issues.
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The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) is responsible for funding the Competition Service (CS) via grant in aid. The budget for 2012 to 2013 was £3,985,000. Its budget for 2013 to 2014 is £3,870,000. The CAT itself has no staff. Providing support staff for the CAT is the function of the Competition Service. The CS has 15 full time equivalents. It is headed by the Registrar, appointed by BIS. The CAT itself consists of a President, appointed by the Ministry of Justice, a panel of chairmen, appointed by Ministry of Justice and a panel of ‘lay’ Members (currently 14 members), appointed by BIS.
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The government’s economic policy objective is to achieve ‘strong, sustainable and balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and between industries’. It set 4 ambitions in the ‘Plan for Growth’, published at Budget 2011:
- to create the most competitive tax system in the G20
- to make the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business
- to encourage investment and exports as a route to a more balanced economy
- to create a more educated workforce that is the most flexible in Europe
Work is underway across government to achieve these ambitions, including progress on more than 250 measures as part of the Growth Review. Developing an Industrial Strategy gives new impetus to this work by providing businesses, investors and the public with more clarity about the long-term direction in which the government wants the economy to travel.