Two women appointed to the Competition Commission
The Competition Commission has today (10th December 2012) announced the appointment of Dame Janet Paraskeva DBE and Penny Boys CB as new council members. Both have been appointed for a maximum term of two years and will be paid pro-rata, based on a daily rate of £350. The Competition and Markets Authority is expected to become fully operational by April 2014, which is also the date the Competition Commission will be formally abolished. These appointments will come to an end on the date of the abolition of the Commission.
Competition Minister Jo Swinson said: “I’m delighted to welcome Dame Janet and Penny to the Competition Commission. They both bring invaluable experience and expertise, which will be hugely beneficial to the work of the Commission, especially during its transition phase, working towards the creation of the new Competition and Markets Authority.”
About Rt Hon. Dame Janet Paraskeva DBE
The Rt Hon. Dame Janet Paraskeva DBE was appointed as the first Chair of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission in November 2007 and the First Civil Service Commissioner on 1 January 2006. She worked for HM Inspector of Schools until 1988 and has served as chief executive at the Law Society and was Director for England of the National Lottery Charities Board as well serving as a magistrate and as a member of the Youth Justice Board.
In 2005, she was appointed to the board of Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency as a non-executive director and in 2006 she was appointed as head of the new Olympic Lottery Distributor (OLD). In July 2010, she was appointed by the Prime Minister as one of three members of an inquiry to determine whether British intelligence officers were complicit in the torture of detainees, and was made a member of the Privy Council. In 1978, she was awarded the Robert Schuman Silver Medal for European Unity and was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours.
About Penny Boys CB
Penny Boys, CB, is a non-executive director of Ofwat and has been the Chief Executive of the Competition Commission, the Executive Director in the OFT, the first Deputy Director General at the office of Electricity Regulation and served as Head of Personnel at the DTI. She has also worked at the Treasury, the former Department of Energy and was seconded to the British National Oil Corporation. She is also one of Network Rail’s Member Selection Panel.
About The Competition Commission
The Competition Commission is a statutory body set up by the Competition Act 1998 and replaced the old Monopolies and Mergers Commission. The Commission conducts in-depth inquiries into mergers, markets and the regulation of the major regulated industries. In most merger and market references the Commission is responsible for making decisions on the competition questions and for making and implementing decisions on appropriate remedies. Every inquiry is undertaken in response to a reference made to it by another authority, usually the Office of Fair Trading. The Commission has no power to conduct inquiries on its own initiative.
The Commission consists of a Chairman, 3 Deputy Chairmen, 2 Council Members and around 37 Panel Members. There is a Chief Executive and around 150 staff. The Council is the commission's strategic management board; it is led by the Chairman and consists of the three Deputy Chairmen, the Chief Executive, and non-executive Council members. The Council meets at least six times a year to consider the plans and strategic direction of the CC and to review recent inquiries, high-level risks and discuss best practice across inquiry groups.
