Public appointment: Deputy Chair and Commissioner appointed to Boundaries Scotland

The Minister for Cabinet and Parliamentary Business, Mr Adam, today announced the appointment of Simon Jones as Deputy Chair and Alison McNab as a Commissioner of Boundaries Scotland.

Deputy Chair

Simon Jones works on substance use strategy within Clackmannanshire and Stirling Health and Social Care Partnership and has a professional background in mental health and education in community and prison settings. He is working towards a PhD in law and politics at Cardiff University, focussed on health politics in devolved contexts.

Commissioner

Alison McNab is a graduate of Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities with an honours degree in law and a post graduate diploma in professional legal practice. Alison started her career as a Scottish solicitor in private practice, working primarily in the fields of criminal defence and civil litigation. Alison then spent five years working in policy and law reform for the Law Society of Scotland, gaining extensive experience of scrutinising legislative proposals, working with elected officials and other stakeholders, navigating parliamentary processes and procedures, and legislative drafting. Alison is an experienced leader in the voluntary sector with expertise in governance, strategic planning, and project planning, delivery and management. She is a former participant of the CBI’s Future Leaders’ programme. Alison also brings experience of both working and volunteering in the public sector and an understanding of local government planning.

Appointment

The appointments will be for four years and will run from 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2028.

The appointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner

Remuneration

The appointments are part-time with a time commitment of up to two days per month. The Deputy Chair attracts a remuneration of £252 per day and the Commissioner attracts a remuneration of £219 per day.

Other ministerial appointments

Simon Jones and Alison McNab do not hold any other public appointments.

Political activity

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 within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.

Simon Jones and Alison McNab have had no political activity within the last five years.

Background

Boundaries Scotland is responsible for carrying out reviews of

· the boundaries of local authority areas;

· carrying out reviews of electoral wards for local authorities;

· responding to requests for reviews of electoral wards or local authority areas; and

· carrying out reviews of constituencies and regions for the Scottish Parliament.

Boundaries Scotland is an Advisory Non-departmental Public Body sponsored and wholly funded by the Scottish Government. It is an independent, non-political body created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. Full details of the legislation surrounding the Commission's work are available on the Legislation page.

Boundaries Scotland is supported in its work by a small Secretariat.