Assistant Commissioners appointed for the regions

26 July, 2016

The Commission is pleased to announce the appointment following open competition of 21 Assistant Commissioners to assist with the conduct of the 2018 Review of Parliamentary constituencies.

Assistant Commissioners are appointed to work in small teams in relation to a specific region of England. They will work closely with our staff, considering the responses received to the consultation on the Commission’s published proposals for new constituencies, and providing advice to the Commissioners on what revisions to those proposals would be appropriate. A designated ‘Lead’ Assistant Commissioner in each region will chair the public hearings in their region, and be the main link between the regional Assistant Commissioner team and the Commission’s staff.

The new Assistant Commissioners and the regions they have been assigned to are:

Eastern
  • Sarah Hamilton (Lead)
  • Laura Jane Smallwood
East Midlands
  • Scott Handley JP (Lead)
  • Ashraf Khan
London
  • Howard Simmons (Lead)
  • Emma Davy
  • Richard Wald
North East
  • Eileen Brady (Lead)
  • Adele Baumgardt
North West
  • Neil Ward (Lead)
  • Graeme Clarke
  • Nicholas Elliott QC
South East
  • Colin Byrne (Lead)
  • Stephen Lawes
  • Alan Nisbett
South West
  • Anita Bickerdike (Lead)
  • Catherine Elliott
West Midlands
  • Margaret Gilmore (Lead)
  • David Latham
Yorkshire and the Humber
  • John Feavyour QPM (Lead)
  • Collette Rawnsley

The Assistant Commissioners have been appointed initially for a 12-month term of office, commencing on 1 September 2016.

Applications for these posts were sought in April, with adverts being placed on the Public Appointments website and in the national press, as well as on the BCE’s own website and social media channels. We received 369 applications for these positions, and interviewed 52 shortlisted candidates in May 2016. The diversity statistics for the selection process were as follows:

Diversity characteristic

GenderAppliedInvited to interviewAppointed

Female 118 (32%) 16 (31%) 9 (43%)
Male 249 (67%) 35 (67%) 11 (52%)
Not Declared 2 (1%) 1 (2%) 1 (5%)

 

Gender Identity (Transgender history)AppliedInvited to interviewAppointed

Yes 0 0 0
No 346 (94%) 50 (96%) 19 (90%)
Prefer not to say / Not declared 23 (6%) 2 (4%) 2 (10%)

 

DisabilityAppliedInvited to interviewAppointed

Yes 14 (4%) 5 (10%) 1 (5%)
No 336 (91%) 45 (86%) 18 (85%)
Prefer not to say / Not declared 19 (5%) 2 (4%) 2 (10%)

 

EthnicityAppliedInvited to interviewAppointed

White 328 (89%) 49 (94%) 19 (90%)
BME 19 (5%) 2 (4%) 1 (5%)
Prefer not to say / Not declared 22 (6%) 1 (2%) 1 (5%)

 

Religion/BeliefAppliedInvited to interviewAppointed

Christian 215 (58%) 31 (60%) 16 (76%)
Non-Christian 18 (5%) 3 (6%) 1 (5%)
None / Atheist 104 (28%) 12 (23%) 2 (10%)
Prefer not to say / Not declared 32 (9%) 6 (11%) 2 (10%)

 

Sexual OrientationAppliedInvited to interviewAppointed

Bisexual 3 (1%) 0 0
Gay/Lesbian 9 (3%) 1 (2%) 0
Heterosexual 319 (86%) 46 (88%) 18 (86%)
Prefer not to say / Not declared 38 (10%) 5 (10%) 3 (14%)

Roundings are applied to percentage figures, so percentages may not always total to exactly 100%