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Appointments to the Environment Agency Board

   

INFORMATION BULLETIN

Ref: 123/09
Date: 5 June 2009

Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Hilary Benn today announced that, following an open competition, he has appointed Julie Hill, Emma Howard Boyd, Robert Light, John Varley and Jeremy Walker as part-time non-executive members of the Environment Agency Board. The appointments are for three years.

The appointments are being made to replace the four EA board members (John Edmonds, Lyndon Stanton, Peter Bye and Richard Percy) who will come to the end of their terms this year, in addition to Ted Cantle who retired as Deputy Chair at the end of last year.  Each of the successful candidates had to demonstrate experience in corporate governance; business/industry; land management; flood risk management; and community engagement. Their appointments expire at different times over the next six months and the new appointments will be staggered accordingly.

These appointments are made by the Secretary of State, in consultation with sponsoring Minister Jane Kennedy and in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice. The Secretary of State also appoints the Deputy Chair from the existing board members based on the recommendation of the Chair.

The appointments are for 3 years.  The salary is £16,553 pro rata based on four days a month.   

Notes to editors

  1. The new appointments were made on merit, and the competition was carried out under the Code laid down by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Commissioner is independent of the Government and was appointed to follow up certain recommendations of the Nolan Committee. The intention of the Code is to provide an efficient and transparent appointments system in which both candidates and the public can have confidence. More details concerning the Commission and the Code are available at www.ocpa.gov.uk
  2. As required by the Commissioner of Public Appointments we confirm that 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 (if any declared) to be made public. This information is included in the biographical material on each member set out above.
  3. The Environment Agency is a Non-Departmental Public Body, set up under the Environment Act 1995 to take an integrated approach to environmental protection and enhancement in England and Wales. It has major responsibilities for management and regulation of the water environment, and for controlling industrial pollution and waste.
  4. Board Members oversee the operations of the Environment Agency and are answerable to Ministers. Their primary aim is “to protect and improve the environment and make a contribution towards delivery of sustainable development through the integrated management of air, land and water”. The Board must comprise at least eight members, but not more than fifteen, including the Chairman and Deputy Chairman. All members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, except one who is appointed by the Welsh Assembly Government. The Agency has a staff of approximately 12,000. Its operating budget in 2008-2009 was just over £1bn. More details about the Environment Agency’s functions are available on the Agency web site at www.environment-agency.gov.uk

Biographical details

Julie Hill

Julie Hill has worked in the environment movement for nearly 25 years.  She is a former Director, and now Associate of, Green Alliance – one of the UK’s leading environmental organisations.   She is also a Non-executive Director of the Eden Project in Cornwall.   She has held a number of posts dealing with the environmental risks of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) including membership of the Government’s Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) and the GM Science Review Panel as well as serving as the Deputy Chair of the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission from 2001 – 2005.  She has worked on waste and product policy for the last fifteen years and has published widely on the subject. She was awarded an MBE in 2001

Emma Howard Boyd

Emma joined Jupiter Asset Management  in 1994 and has overall responsibility for the management and development of Jupiter’s Socially Responsible Investment business. She is also responsible for Jupiter’s corporate governance and engagement services for institutional clients and Jupiter’s UK retail funds.

During 2007, Emma was a member of the Commission on Environmental Markets and Economic Performance set up by the UK Government to make detailed proposals specifically on enhancing the UK environmental industries, technologies and markets. She is a faculty member of the Cambridge Programme for Sustainable Leadership and a director of the Triodos Renewables Energy Fund.

Emma was Chair of the UKSIF, the sustainable investment and finance association until March 2006, when she retired from the board after eight years’ service. She was founding Chair of Eurosif, the European Sustainable and Responsible Investment Forum, from its launch until the end of 2002. Prior to working at Jupiter, Emma specialised in corporate finance at Hill Samuel and Banque Nationale de Paris. Emma holds no other ministerial appointments.

Robert Light

Robert Light is a Conservative politician and the former Leader of Kirklees Council, the former Chair of the Leeds City Region, and a former Chair of the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.  He has been a Kirklees Councillor for seventeen years.

Robert is a member of the Executive of the Local Government Association and a board member of Firebuy Ltd.

Robert is a farmer from Bradford, West Yorkshire.

John Varley

Director of the Clinton Devon Estates, which in addition to commercial forestry, a range of rural businesses and a portfolio of residential and commercial property, manages in-hand a 3,500 acre organic dairy, arable and sheep farming operation in East Devon and two beef and arable share farms in North Devon.  The Estate also owns and manages 30 tenant farms and the 3,000 acre East Devon Pebblebed Heaths SSSI, SPA and SAC conservation site.   John has a particular interest in the future of hill farming and, as well as chairing the David Arnold Forster Hill Farming Trust, he is a panel member of the CRC’s inquiry into the future of the uplands, which will report in the Autumn.  John is a member of Defra’s Anaerobic Digestion Task Group, which reports in July and a member of the Royal Agricultural Society of England’s Practice with Science Group, chaired by Sir Don Curry.

Before joining the Estate in April 2000, he was a general manager at British Telecommunications plc spending much of his career in the global division.  John has a Masters in International Management from McGill University, Montreal, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies.  Previously a Board Member of the Countryside Agency, John has just completed his final term as a Commissioner with the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC).  Current non executive positions include member of the National Trust’s Land Use and Access Panel and a stakeholder member of the UK’s Rural Economy and Land Use Programme.

Jeremy Walker

Jeremy Walker has been Chairman of the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence committee since 2005, and Chairman of the Forestry Commission’s Yorkshire and Humber Regional Advisory Committee since 2007.  He has lived and worked in Yorkshire since 1980 and held a number of senior public service posts, including Regional Director of the Government Office from 1994 to 1999, and chief executive of North Yorkshire County Council from 1999 to 2005.

In the 1970s he worked in the Economic Secretariat of the Cabinet Office, and in the mid 1980s he undertook a secondment to the Australian Department of Employment and Industrial Relations in Canberra where he worked on training policy and skills issues.  On return he became Head of the UK national Community Programme and then led the development of the Employment Training programme nationally.

From 1988 to 1993, he was Regional Director of the Department of Employment in Yorkshire and Humberside, based in Leeds.  Also during that time he was Chairman of the Leeds and Bradford City Action Team.  He is a member of the Courts of Leeds and York Universities.

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Page published: 5 June 2009