Press release

Minister appoints new Competition Appeal Tribunal members

The Minister for Competition, Margot James MP, appoints 10 new members to the Tribunal’s panel of ordinary members.

The new members are:

  • Caroline Anderson
  • Dr Catherine Bell CB
  • Dr William Bishop
  • Professor John Cubbin
  • Simon Holmes
  • Sir Iain McMillan CBE
  • Professor David Ulph CBE
  • Anna Walker CB
  • Professor Michael Waterson
  • Professor Pauline Weetman

Notes to editors

  1. Ordinary members are selected for their expertise in law, business, accountancy, economics and other related fields. Prior to the making of these appointments, the Tribunal’s panel of ordinary members consisted of 11 members whose terms of appointment end on 3 January 2019.

  2. The new members are appointed for 8 years and paid according to the amount of time that they spend working for the Tribunal based on a daily rate, currently £350 but from 6 April 2017 £400.The appointments carry no right of pension, gratuity or allowance on their termination. The announced appointments commenced on 20 March 2017.

  3. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity to be made public. None of the new members are politically active.

  4. Although these appointments do not come within the remit of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA), they have been made following OCPA best practice.

  5. The Tribunal is a specialist judicial body with cross-disciplinary expertise in law, economics, business and accountancy. It consists of the President and Chairmen, who are appointed by the Lord Chancellor, and the panel of ordinary members. Under UK law, the function of the Tribunal is to hear and decide appeals and other applications or claims involving competition or economic regulatory issues. Cases are heard before a Tribunal consisting of 3 members: either the President or a member of the panel of Chairmen and 2 ordinary members.

  6. Support staff and functions to the Tribunal are provided by the Competition Service (CS). The CS has 16.7 full time equivalent members of staff and it is headed by the Registrar, who is appointed by the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

About the new members

Caroline Anderson

Caroline Anderson is a Chartered Accountant and senior business adviser with over 20 years’ experience in regulation of the accounting profession. She has held senior executive roles in the UK, The Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand with a focus on regulation of the professions and of financial services. She first became involved in regulatory governance with Chartered Accountants Ireland in 1996 where she is currently a member of its Disciplinary Tribunal.

Dr Catherine Bell CB

Catherine Bell has wide non-executive experience at board level in the public, private and regulated sectors. She has been a Non-Executive Director at National Grid Gas plc and National Grid Electricity Transmission plc since April 2014, and at National Grid Gas Distribution plc, since October 2016. She is also a Non-Executive Director at Horder Healthcare. Her past roles include Non-Executive Director at the Civil Aviation Authority, United Utilities plc and the Department of Health.

Dr William Bishop

William Bishop is currently a senior advisor at Charles River Associates (a role from which he will shortly retire) and Professor of Economics of Competition Law at the College of Europe. His parliamentary and governmental experience includes being an adviser to the UK government on drafting the UK Competition Act and adviser to the European Commission on its Market Definition Notice and on Remedies in Merger Control. His professional experience includes many cases concerning European and UK merger control and UK monopoly investigations.

Professor John Cubbin

John Cubbin is Emeritus Professor of Economics at City University in London where he was previously Head of Economics and Director for Competition and Regulatory Policy. Previously, he was also:

  • Associate Director with National Economic Research Associates (NERA)
  • Professor of Economics at UMIST
  • Visiting Senior Research Fellow at London Business School
  • Reader in Economics at Queen Mary University of London
  • Lecturer in Economics at Warwick University
  • a member of the Competition Commission

Simon Holmes

Simon Holmes was with King & Wood Mallesons of London between 1994 and 2016, firstly as a Partner but more latterly as Head of UK department, European Head and Global Head of Competition. He is a regular writer, speaker and chair on competition law and regulatory matters at conferences and seminars around the world with engagements in London, Brussels, Paris, New York, Washington, Sydney, Beijing and Tokyo. He has lectured at various academic and business institutions including at the LSE.

Sir Iain McMillan CBE

Iain McMillan worked at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) between 1993 and 2014 and, prior to that, was at the TSB group between 1970 and 1993. He is currently Chairman at SkillForce Development, a member of the Executive Committee of the British American Business Council (BABC) and trustee of The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland). He is also Honorary Air Commodore of 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, Honorary Patron of the Scottish North American Business Council (SNABC) and Chairman of the University of Strathclyde Business School Advisory Board.

Professor David Ulph CBE

David Ulph has been Professor of Economics at the University of St Andrews since 2006 and Director of the Scottish Institute for Research in Economics since 2010. Between 2005 and 2006, he was Chief Economist and Director of Analysis in the Directorate for Knowledge, Analysis and Intelligence at HM Revenue and Customs and Chief Economist and Director of Analysis and Research at the Inland Revenue, between 2001 and 2004.

Anna Walker CB

Anna Walker is currently Non-Executive Director at South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. She is also Chair at St George’s Hospital Charity, a Non-Executive Director at Welsh Water and a member of the Council of Which?. She was the Chair at the Office of Rail and Road, between 2009 and 2015, and Chief Executive of the Healthcare Commission, between 2004 and 2009.

Professor Michael Waterson

Michael Waterson has been Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick since 1991 and has previously been a professor at the University of Reading and lecturer at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He was a member of the Competition Commission for 9 years and has also undertaken various consultancy activities for organisations including the Office of Fair Trading, NERA, Oxera and Frontier Economics in relation to various aspects of the energy industry and retail competition.

Professor Pauline Weetman

Pauline Weetman is currently Professor Emerita of Accounting at the University of Edinburgh. She is also Member of the Accounts Commission of Scotland which is responsible for the audit of all Scottish local authorities. She is also English language editor for the China Journal of Accounting Studies and a member of the Finance Committee of the International Academy at the University of London. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Published 22 March 2017