THE COMMISSION

Sixteen members serve on the Press Complaints Commission. A clear majority of them - nine, including the Chairman - are totally unconnected with the press. This guarantees the independence of the PCC from the industry which generously funds it and whose Code it oversees.

The remaining seven members of the Commission - in the minority - are senior serving editors drawn from across the national, regional and periodical press. The input of such senior editors is crucial to the work of the PCC - ensuring that its decisions are practical and take account of the day-to-day realities of the preparation and production of a newspaper or magazine.

There has been only one change to the composition of the Commission since the publication of the last Annual Review. Neil Wallis, editor of The Sunday People, succeeded Phil Hall, who retired from the Commission in the summer. There have been no changes to the lay membership.

Commission Members

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

John McGurk
Editor, Scotland on Sunday

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

Guy Black
Director

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

Russell Twisk
Editor, Reader's Digest

Dominic Lawson
Editor, The Sunday Telegraph

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

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

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

Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill
Chairman, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Malcolm Starbrook
Editor, The Croydon Advertiser

Neil Wallis
Editor, The Sunday People

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

Alison Hastings
Editor, Evening Chronicle (Newcastle)

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

The Appointments Commission

In order to ensure the complete independence of the Commission's lay members, all Commissioners are appointed by an independent Appointments Commission.

The Appointments Commission itself has a clear lay majority on it: of five members, there is only one newspaper industry representative.

The five members of the Appointments Commission are:

Lord Wakeham
(Chairman)

Sir Harry Roche
(Chairman of PA News, and of Pressbof)

Lord Mayhew of Twysden, QC
(former Attorney General)

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