New SLCC board member appointments announced
Seven new SLCC board member appointments have today been announced by the Minister for Community Safety, Ash Denham.
The appointments, of 3 lawyer members and 4 lay members, are for five years. Three members – Professor June Andrews OBE, Niki Maclean and Frank Gill – joined the SLCC from 1 April 2021. They replace Amanda Pringle, Emma Hutton and Michelle Hynd who have reached the end of their terms with the SLCC. The remaining four – Gerard Sinclair, Richard McMeeken, Susan Walsh OBE and John Stevenson – will join on 1 January 2022.
SLCC Chair Jim Martin welcomed the appointments, “As well as driving the strategic direction of the SLCC’s work, board members make decisions on individual complaints, making this a unique, varied, challenging and rewarding role. Our new board members join us at an interesting time in the SLCC’s history. Like many organisations, we are responding to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on our work, our staff and our customers. The debate on reform of legal regulation continues and how complaints should be handled is at the very heart of that. I welcome June, Frank and Niki to the SLCC and look forward to working with them on these issues over the coming years.
“I would also like to thank Amanda, Emma and Michelle for the significant contribution they’ve made to the work of the SLCC over the past five years, and wish them every success for the future. During their time with the SLCC, we have made substantial improvements to our ways of working, including significantly reducing the journey time for a complaint and modernising our approach to making adjudications. They can be proud of the impact this has and will continue to have on complainers and lawyers alike.”
Member Biographies
Members joining on 1 April 2021
Professor June Andrews OBE, FRCN is a psychiatric and general registered nurse, a Fellow of the City and Guilds Institute, and a Senior Associate of the Good Governance Institute. Her OBE is for support for people affected by dementia. She has been a director in NHS Forth Valley, the Royal College of Nursing, the Centre for Change and Innovation at the Scottish Health Department, the Stirling Dementia Services Development Centre, and for elder care providers in the third and private sectors across the UK. In NHS Forth Valley, she led a review of complaints processes and in the Welsh Government, she led an inquiry into complaints about hospital care of older people. In 2020 she graduated in law from the University of Edinburgh and has now trained as an expert witness.
Niki Maclean has a background in complaints handling, having worked with the SPSO since 2005, and taking up the role of Director in 2010. Prior to this role, she worked as a senior HR professional within the fields of HR, organisation and change, and people development across the public and private sectors, including within the legal profession. Her recent career has focused on improving and professionalising complaints handling, including supporting improvement within Scottish public bodies through a culture of good complaints handling and getting it right first time. More widely across the UK and Irish Ombudsman communities, she has led the development of industry wide service standards for the benefit of service users.
Frank Gill is the Director of Corporate & Legal Services at Castle Craig Hospital near Peebles. Prior to joining Castle Craig, he was a partner in a global law firm and he has also been a partner in a large Scottish law firm. Frank also ran his own high street firm for a number of years and so he has a broad range of experience from working in different types of legal practice. His background is in civil litigation and he has a particular interest in professional discipline and regulation. He is a former member of the Law Society of Scotland’s Nominations Committee and its Practising Certificate Committee. Frank is Chair of the Disciplinary Appointments Committee of ICAS. He has an LLM in Human Rights Law.
Members joining on 1 January 2022
Gerard Sinclair is retiring as the Chief Executive and Principal Solicitor of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission later this year, after serving for 18 years in that position. Prior to this, he was a solicitor in private practice and a senior partner in his own Glasgow firm for almost 20 years. He is qualified in both Scottish and English Law and has been a part-time sheriff since 2006. He has previously served as a member of the Council of the Law Society of Scotland and as a member of the Judicial Council for Scotland.
Richard McMeeken is a partner at Morton Fraser LLP, specialising in commercial litigation. He has 18 years of experience acting for the public and private sector in dispute resolution. As such, he has a good understanding of the standards of service that clients are entitled to expect from their lawyers.
Susan Walsh OBE previously served as a College Principal in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. Originally a nurse, she moved into Further and Higher Education, where she gained extensive governance, strategic and operational management experience. She has served on many national Boards and recently co-authored the NHS Governance Framework which is now used across Scotland. She is currently a Board Member of the Students Award Agency Scotland. Susan has particular interests in early education, social justice and organisational wellbeing, and holds degrees from Glasgow, Strathclyde, Lancaster and Glasgow Caledonian Universities. In 2014 she was appointed OBE.
John Stevenson has wide experience in the Scottish and UK public sector. As part of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman’s Leadership Team, he headed up its improvement Standards and Engagement functions. Prior to this he was the Head of the Complaints Standards Authority where he led on the design and introduction of new legislative functions in relation to complaints handling. As an Inspector in the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate, through inspection and support, he worked to improve the administration of social security by councils and social security agencies across the UK.