UKPAC Announce Independent Members

LONDON - 7th June 2010, Elizabeth France CBE is to be the first independent Chairman of the UK Public Affairs Council (UK PAC). The Council is being formed to build public confidence in those who undertake lobbying by increasing transparency and accountability among those it regulates, underpinned by a set of guiding principles outlining appropriate ethical standards for all those who lobby.

Elizabeth France is chair of the Office for Legal Complaints and a former Information Commissioner. She will be joined on the Council by
two other independent members, George Kidd (currently a member of the Direct Marketing Commission) and Sir Roger Sands KCB (former Clerk of the House of Commons).

Announcing the appointments, Sir Philip Mawer, Chairman of the UK PAC Implementation Team, said:

"The setting up of UK PAC meets a key recommendation of the Public Administration Select Committee in the last Parliament. Elizabeth
France and her two colleagues will provide strong and independent leadership in the new Council.

“I am delighted that people of such calibre and regulatory experience have agreed to serve. They will help the Council promote, in the
public interest, ethical behaviour in lobbying, a shared objective of both the public affairs industry and the new Coalition Government."

-Notes to Editors-

In its report on “Lobbying: Access and influence in Whitehall” published in January 2009, the Public Administration Select Committee of the House of Commons recommended the establishment of a single body to promote ethical behaviour by those involved in lobbying.

The UK Public Affairs Council has four key roles:

1.        To hold and review periodically the Guiding Principles covering those who lobby, examining how a common Code of Conduct enshrining the Principles can be established and keeping under review any related Codes of member bodies;

2.        To maintain a Register of those engaged in lobbying and of the organisations on whose behalf they lobby;

3.        To oversee the disciplinary arrangements necessary to enforce the Principles and any common Code; to allocate complaints against
individuals or organisations within member bodies to the most appropriate body; and to review periodically the process through which complaints are considered by member bodies;

4.        To promote with its member bodies high ethical standards in lobbying generally.

The founding member bodies of the Council are the Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC), the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA). Short biographical notes on the three newly appointed independent members follow.

Elizabeth France CBE
Elizabeth France is Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints and a non-executive director of the Serious Organized Crime Agency. Until 1
July 2009 she was Chief Ombudsman and Chief Executive of the Ombudsman Service Ltd., which provides the Telecommunications Ombudsman Service (Otelo), the Energy Ombudsman Service and the Surveyors Ombudsman Service.

Previously Elizabeth was a career Civil Servant.  She resigned from the Senior Civil Service to become the Data Protection Registrar in
September 1994, becoming Information Commissioner in January 2001.  She is Vice President of the University of Aberystwyth and a member of the General Assembly of the University of Manchester. Elizabeth has been awarded honorary doctorates by the Universities of De Montfort,
Loughborough and Bradford and is a Fellow of Aberystwyth University.


In June 2002 she was awarded a CBE, for services to data protection.

George Kidd
George Kidd is a member of the Direct Marketing Commission and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. In a voluntary capacity he serves
on the Standards Committee for the London Borough of Bromley.

For eight years George was Chief Executive of PhonepayPlus, the Ofcom regulatory agency for the £1 billion UK market for “phone-paid”
services and goods.

During the 1990s George served in the Cabinet Office working on regulatory policy and the set up the Better Regulation Executive and
Task Force. He was British Consul in Chicago from 1990-1994 promoting US investment into the United Kingdom.

Sir Roger Sands KCB
Sir Roger Sands retired as Chief Executive and Clerk of the House of Commons in September 2006. During his 41 year career in the House he served in a wide variety of roles, including as Registrar of Members' Interests and Clerk of the Select Committee on Members' Interests from 1991 - 1994, the period when MPs first became actively concerned with aspects of the professional lobbying industry.

Since his retirement Sir Roger has chaired the Standards Committee of Mid Sussex District Council.


For follow-up enquiries, please contact the Secretary of the Council, Mark Ramsdale, on 078 111 888 93.

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