UK Chemicals Stakeholder Forum appointments announced
A re-appointment and a number of new appointments have been made to the UK Chemicals Stakeholder Forum.
Chris Hughes has been re-appointed as chairman until 31 May 2013 for a third and final term.
A number of membership changes have also been made, and five new members to the forum are:
- Chemistry Innovation Knowledge Transfer Network;
- Society of Chemical Industry;
- UK Cleaning Products Industry Association;
- Professor Peter Calow OBE; and
- Dr Alan Knight OBE.
The forum provides independent advice on issues such as the management of chemicals, industry best practice, and REACH implementation.
The forum is an advisory group and not a non-departmental public body. Most members of the forum sit as representatives of views of the many sectors of society which work with or are concerned about industrial chemicals and not as individuals.
Appointments to the forum are not subject to the Office for the Commissioner of Public Appointments (OCPA) regulatory regime. However, as a matter of good practice Defra strives to apply the fundamental principles in the OCPA code to all its appointment making processes. These principles have been exercised proportionately in making these appointments.
Notes
The forum was set up in September 2000. Its terms of reference and membership can be found here: archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/chemicals/csf/index.htm.
Chris Hughes was first appointed as chairman of the UK Chemicals Stakeholder Forum in 2004. He is a solicitor with degrees from Cambridge, London and the Open University. Chris holds judicial appointments hearing cases in the Health and Education and the General Regulatory Chambers of the Tribunals. He chairs the Ethics Group of the National DNA Database and sits on the Department for Work and Pensions Data Ethics Committee. He has recently served on the Appeals Panel for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones and on the Board of the Legal Complaints Service responsible for resolving complaints against solicitors.
The chairman and other members of the forum do not receive salaries and serve voluntarily on the forum. Forum members are not entitled to claim fees for the time they spend on forum business. However, the chairman can claim a daily fee for his work on the forum, which in 2009-10 stood at £208/day. In 2009, the total claimed was £1,604. All forum members are entitled to claim reimbursement for costs incurred travelling to and from forum meetings.
Defra provides the secretariat for the forum, which also works with the Health and Safety Executive (who are the UK REACH Competent Authority); the Department for Business Innovation and Skills; the Environment Agency, and the Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances (ACHS). All UKCSF meetings are open to members of the public and the specialist chemical press. Forum papers, minutes and annual reports are published on the Forum website: archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/chemicals/csf/index.htm.