THE COMMISSION

Key to the success of the Press Complaints Commission are two factors.

One is the interaction between lay members and senior editors drawn from across the newspaper and magazine publishing industry.

The other is, crucially, the independence of the PCC from the newspaper industry - provided by the inbuilt majority of lay members on the Commission itself.

There are sixteen members of the Commission. Nine of these - including the Chairman, Lord Wakeham - are lay members completely unconnected with the press. The other seven are editors drawn from the national, regional and periodical press.

There have been three changes to the membership of the Commission since the last Report was published.

Three editors have retired from the Commission - Pat Roberts Cairns (Good Housekeeping), Jim Cassidy (Sunday Mail) and Phil Hall (News of the World).

The new members who have replaced them are Russell Twisk (Readers' Digest) and John McGurk (Scotland on Sunday), while one place was vacant at the time of the publication of this Report. There have been no changes to the lay membership.

The Appointments Commission

All members of the Commission are appointed by an independent Appointments Commission. This again guarantees the independence of the Commission from the industry which generously funds it and whose Code it administers.

There are five members of the Appointments Commission:

Lord Wakeham (who chairs it);

Sir Harry Roche (Chairman of the Press Standards Board of Finance - and the single newspaper representative on the Appointments Commission);

Lord Mayhew of Twysden, QC (former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland);

Mr David Clementi (Deputy Governor of the Bank of England); and

Mrs Mary Francis (Chief Executive of the Association of British Insurers).

Mrs Francis, a former Deputy Private Secretary to The Queen, succeeded Sir Geoffrey Holland, Vice Chancellor of Exeter University, who retired from the Appointments Commission at the end of 1999 after five years of service to it. We are most grateful to him for that service and for the substantial contribution he has made to the continuing success of the PCC.

The Commission Members

Lord Wakeham Chairman

Professor Robert Pinker (Privacy Commissioner) Professor of Social Administration, London School of Economics

Alison Hastings Editor, Evening Chronicle (Newcastle)

Paul Dacre Editor in Chief, Associated Newspapers; Editor, The Daily Mail

Arzina Bhanji Dental Surgeon; Former Director, Royal Hospitals NHS Trust

Dominic Lawson Editor, The Sunday Telegraph

Dr Arthur Hearnden OBE Former General Secretary of the Independent Schools Joint Council

Sir Brian Cubbon GCB Permanent Secretary: Home Office 1979-88, Northern Ireland Office 1976-79

Rt. Rev. John Waine Bishop of Chelmsford 1986-96; Clerk of the Closet to the Queen 1989-96

John McGurk Editor, Scotland on Sunday

Russell Twisk Editor, Reader's Digest

Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill Chairman, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Dame Ruth Runciman OBE Former Chairman, Mental Health Act Commission; Deputy Chairman, Prison Reform Trust

Lord Tordoff Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees, House of Lords; Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords 1988-94

Malcolm Starbrook Editor, The Croydon Advertiser

Guy Black Director