Public appointment: Members reappointed to Food Standards Scotland

The Minister for Public Health and Women's Health, Jenni Minto MSP today announced the reappointment of Dr Carol Evans, Alban Denton, and Aileen Brown as Members of Food Standards Scotland.

Members

Carol Evans has over 20 years’ experience of strategy development, stakeholder engagement, strategic leadership and leading and driving change in complex organisations in the private, public and third sector.  She worked at a strategic level in AstraZeneca, Kellogg’s, PepsiCo, Reckitt Benckiser, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, and Bield Housing and Care and delivered significant savings and growth.  In AstraZeneca she led the transformational change to improve performance globally and drive continuous improvement. Carol’s present commitments include non-executive director roles at SDS (Skills Development Scotland), SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) and Accounts Commission for Scotland along with her chairmanship at Friends of Cedarbank Charity. Previously she was a member of pharmacy and health related boards and government advisory groups and supported the development of regulations, policies and procedures nationally. In her non-executive roles and as a member of global executive teams, she has been responsible for audit, risk, finance and ensuring the highest standards of corporate governance, compliance, and performance improvement.

Alban Denton has been involved in many of Scotland’s food businesses over the past 30 years, having held a number of senior director and Managing Director roles latterly, and before retirement, as Managing Director of Loch Duart, one of Scotland’s leading fish farmers. As an experienced non-executive director, Alban has significant practice in supporting and constructively challenging executive teams.

Aileen Brown has extensive experience of boards and risk and audit committees. Her career covers the public sector, private sector and as a charity trustee. She is a Chartered Accountant and has held senior positions in various sectors including professional services, health, financial services, corporate finance and regulation and developed a detailed understanding of governance from working in regulated businesses and also in professional practice in audit and risk management consulting. In addition to finance director roles Aileen has been responsible for executive oversight of other disciplines such as HR, IT, legal, risk, compliance. She particularly enjoys multi-disciplinary working and has worked with many disciplines such as clinicians, scientists, actuaries, and entrepreneurs. 

Reappointment

Dr Carol Evans’ reappointment will be for 18 months and will run from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2026.

Alban Denton’s reappointment will be for 4 years and will run from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2029.

Aileen Brown’s reappointment will be for 4 years and will run from 1 January 2026 to  31 December 2029.

These reappointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

Remuneration

These reappointments are part-time and attract a remuneration of £239.92 for a time commitment of 4 days per month.

Other ministerial appointments

Dr Carol Evans is a member of SEPA, for which she receives remuneration of £293.29 per day, for a time commitment of 2 days per month. She is also a member of SDS, for which she receives remuneration of £339 per day, for a time commitment of 2 days per month. Carol also is a Commission Member of the Accounts Commission, for which she receives remuneration of £302.15 per day, for a time commitment of 2.5 days per month.

Alban Denton and Aileen Brown 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.   

Dr Carol Evans, Alban Denton and Aileen Brown have had no political activity within the last five years.

Background

Food Standards Scotland is based in Aberdeen with 280.5 FTE staff in total, including field-based operations and veterinary staff. Monitoring and enforcing hygiene and safety standards along the supply chain, as well as monitoring animal welfare at slaughter, are central to the work that they do. They work very closely with Scotland’s 32 local authorities who are responsible for ensuring that food and feed businesses across Scotland are meeting their legal obligations and are producing and selling safe, authentic food. They also work closely with a wide range of stakeholder organisations and with other public bodies in Scotland and beyond.