An expert team has
been appointed to the Hillsborough Independent Panel, Home
Secretary Alan Johnson announced today.
The seven panellists include specialists in research, medicine,
archives, policing and the media. They will assist The Right
Reverend James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, who will chair the
body.
Bishop James will be joined by public information
expert Christine Gifford; TV producer and researcher Katy Jones;
Paul Leighton, former Deputy Chief Constable of the Police Service
of Northern Ireland; academic criminologist Professor Phil
Scraton; Dr Bill Kirkup, former Associate Medical Director at the
Department of Health; broadcaster Peter Sissons and archivist
Sarah Tyacke.
The Hillsborough Independent Panel will
oversee the publication of papers surrounding the 1989 tragedy, in
which 96 Liverpool football supporters lost their lives. It will
meet for the first time in Liverpool on 4 February.
Mr
Johnson said:
"The new panellists are all experts in their field and
will bring a range of vital skills to the work of the Hillsborough
Independent Panel.
"I am delighted they have
accepted the responsibility of assisting Bishop James in releasing
papers surrounding the terrible tragedy."
The
Hillsborough Independent Panel and its terms of reference were
established last month.
Bishop James said:
"Great thought has been given to the set of skills
needed to do this important work. I am so pleased that my
colleagues have agreed to join the Panel and dedicate themselves
to this major task. Together they provide excellent skills for the
serious work of overseeing the disclosure of the
documents."
The Hillsborough families have been
consulted throughout the process of establishing the panel and in
the appointments announced today.
Hillsborough Family
Support Group chair Margaret Aspinall said:
"The HFSG is extremely pleased that the panel
announced today is now nearly complete and that the archive and
review work can soon begin in earnest.
"We
welcome the Panel which has the confidence of all interested
parties and is felt capable of executing this very important task.
We look forward to working with them over the coming months and
hope that the outcome is satisfactory."
Notes to editors
1. The Panel's full terms of reference can be
found at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/hillsborough-tor
2. Government documents will be among those released,
alongside papers from public bodies including South Yorkshire
Police, Sheffield City Council and South Yorkshire's fire
and rescue and ambulance services.
3. For more details,
contact the Home Office Press Office on 020 7035 3535.
4. The Bishop's press spokesman Stuart Haynes can be
contacted on 0151 705 2150 or at stuart.haynes@liverpool.anglican.org
5. Panel Members
Christine Gifford
Christine Gifford is a recognised expert in the field of access
to information, and is a member of the Advisory Council on
National Records and Archives which advises the Government on the
disclosure of highly sensitive material.
She spent more than 20 years working with the Metropolitan
Police. In 1997 she joined the Working Party on Openness in
Government and later became an adviser to the Lord Chancellor on
the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act.
She said: "This is clearly going to be a challenging and
important process which I feel privileged to have been asked to
take part in"
Katy Jones
Katy Jones is the Bafta award-winning factual producer of a
series of landmark factual dramas by some of Britain's
top writers including Jimmy McGovern's
'Hillsborough', the Prix Italia winning
'Sunday'; Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon
Beaufoy's highly acclaimed feature film
'Yasmin' and Tony Marchant's 2008 Bafta
winner 'The Mark of Cain'.
Ms Jones also spent five years as an investigative journalist/
producer on the current affairs series World in Action.
She said: "It is hugely important that the Hillsborough
families will at last have access to all of the information
surrounding this tragedy. Opening up the archive will, I hope,
help to heal the pain of not knowing.
"I am deeply honoured that the families were keen for me
to be part of the panel overseeing the release of the Hillsborough
documents."
Dr Bill Kirkup, CBE
Dr Bill Kirkup was appointed a consultant in 1986 and held posts
in public health and at Newcastle University before moving into
NHS management with the former Northern Regional Health Authority.
In 1999, he was appointed Regional Director of Public Health and
in 2005 became Associate Chief Medical Officer in the Department
of Health. He has also worked on public health and reconstruction
in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, and was made a CBE in 2008.
Dr Kirkup said: "It is a privilege to be asked to serve
on this Panel. I hope that the information we provide can help
those bereaved in the tragedy."
Paul Leighton, QPM CBE
Paul Leighton retired as Deputy Chief Constable of the Police
Service of Northern Ireland in May 2009.
He has worked in policing in Northern Ireland and the North East
of England in and dealt with the aftermath of the Chinook
helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994 when 25 police and
service personnel lost their lives. From late 1994 to early 1996
he was seconded to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of
Constabulary (HMIC), where he assisted in the inspection of a
number of English police forces. He is a law graduate and was
awarded the Queen's Police Medal in 2005 and the CBE in
the New Year's Honours List 2010.
He said: "I feel privileged to have been appointed and
hope that the Panel can be of as much help as possible to those
who have suffered for so long as a result of the tragic events at Hillsborough."
Professor Phil Scraton
Phil Scraton is Professor of Criminology in the Institute of
Criminology and Criminal Justice, School of Law, Queen's
University, Belfast, where he is Director of the Childhood,
Transition and Social Justice Initiative. He held recent visiting
scholarships at Monash University, Melbourne and Sydney Law
School, University of Sydney.
His primary research includes: controversial deaths and
institutional responsibility; the rights of the bereaved and
survivors in the aftermath of disasters. Previously Director of
the Hillsborough Project, he established the Nuffield funded
disasters' research archive, the ESRC funded seminar
series on disasters and their aftermath and the Home Office
Emergency Planning-funded research into responses to disasters and
their aftermath.
He said: 'The establishment of the Hillsborough Archive
and the Panel is a clear recognition that the families and
survivors have had neither the full story nor appropriate
acknowledgement of the circumstances in which 96 men, women and
children died and hundreds were injured. It confirms their
resilience and courage in pursuing full disclosure of the context,
circumstances and aftermath of an avoidable tragedy in the face of
hostile opposition and it represents an unprecedented development
in setting new standards regarding the wider public interest."
Peter Sissons
Peter Sissons is one of the best-known names in TV News -
retiring in the summer of 2009 after nearly 45 years with ITN and
the BBC. He is a Liverpudlian born and bred. He went to the
Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, and then University
College Oxford where he studied Philosophy Politics and Economics.
He was the launch presenter of Channel Four News in
1982, before leaving to join the BBC in 1989, succeeding Sir Robin
Day as chairman of Question Time, which he presented for 150
editions.
He is a holder of one of the highest awards of the Royal
Television Society, the Judges' Award, an Honorary Fellow
of Liverpool John Moores University, and an Honorary LLD of
Liverpool University.
He said: "The Hillsborough families, and all the people
of Liverpool, must have confidence that nothing is still being
hidden about this tragedy. That is our task, and as a
Liverpudlian, I am glad that I can play a part in fulfilling
it."
Sarah Tyacke, CB
Sarah Tyacke is currently visiting professor at Royal Holloway,
University of London (RHUL), a Distinguished Senior Research
Fellow, School of Advanced Study, University of London, and Chair
of the International Records Management Trust (IRMT).
She was Keeper of Public Records and Historical Manuscripts
Commissioner for the United Kingdom government and Chief Executive
of the National Archives of England and Wales from 1992-2005 and
was responsible for the establishment of The National Archives in
2003.
Ms Tyacke said: "I am pleased to have been asked to help
sort these records out for the benefit of those involved and for
future generations."
013/2009
Contacts:
Home Office Press Office
Phone: 020 7035 3535
NDS.HO@coi.gsi.gov.uk