Press release

Press Release: Geraint Jones appointed as reviewer for the Office For Fair Access

David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, announced today that he is appointing Geraint Jones as the statutory reviewer for OFFA…

From:
Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, Office for Fair Access and The Rt Hon David Willetts
Published
8 January 2013
This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, announced today that he is appointing Geraint Jones as the statutory reviewer for OFFA. Should a university or college object to a provisional decision by the Director of Fair Access, the reviewer can be asked to assess the case impartially. He may recommend that there are grounds for the Director to reconsider his decision.

Geraint Jones QC was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge before going to the Bar in 1976. He took silk in 2001 and is now recognised as a leading commercial and Chancery practitioner with extensive experience of judicial review work. He has an undoubted reputation for fearless independence and impartiality in upholding the rule of law. He sits as a Recorder and as a part-time Judge of the Tax Tribunal. He is also an arbitrator at the International Court of Arbitration for Sport.

David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, said:

I am delighted that Geraint Jones will be the reviewer for OFFA, his skills and experience, if called upon, will be of great value.

Notes to editors

  1. The position of statutory reviewer for OFFA has been in place since OFFA was established in 2004. So far there has been no need to call upon the services of the statutory reviewer.

  2. 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 four ambitions in the ‘Plan for Growth’ (PDF 1.7MB), 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.

  3. 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.

Updates to this page

Published 8 January 2013