UK Government
Prime Minister’s Office
Mr Justice Fraser appointed as Lord Justice of Appeal.
Department for Business and Trade
Dan Carden as the prime minister’s Trade Envoy to Mexico.
Rob Butler as the prime minister’s Trade Envoy to Morocco.
James Daly appointed as the prime minister’s Trade Envoy to Pakistan.
Cabinet Office
Committee on Standards in Public Life – Lieutenant General (Retired) Doug Chalmers CB DSO OBE appointed as chair from 12 December.
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Martyn Henderson OBE appointed as interim Chief Operating Officer to lead the preparatory work to set up the new independent regulator of men’s elite football, from early 2024.
Imperial War Museum – Rachel Smith appointed as Digital Trustee for four years.
Ministry of Defence
General Sir Roly Walker KCB DSO appointed as Chief of the General Staff and Aide-de-Camp to His Majesty in the rank of General from June 2024, succeeding General Sir Patrick Sanders KBE CBE DSO.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Laura Davies appointed as His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Finland from September 2024, succeeding Theresa Bubbear OBE who will be retiring from the Diplomatic Service.
Department of Health and Social Care
NHS Pay Review Body – Stephen Boyle appointed as interim chair until 31 July 2024.
NHS Resolution – Charlotte Moar’s term as Non-executive director and chair of the Audit and Risk Committee extended until 31 March 2024.
Home Office
Simon Fell appointed as the prime minister’s Anti-Fraud Champion.
Ministry of Justice
Judicial Appointments Committee – Deputy Senior District Judge Tanweer Ikram CBE DL appointed as Judicial Commissioner for three years from 14 December; Christopher Bones, Anthony Harden and Clare McGlynn appointed as Lay Commissioners, Noel Arnold appointed as Judicial Commissioner and Uchechi Igbokwe appointed as Non-legally Qualified Judicial Commissioner for three years from 1 January 2024.
Northern Ireland Office
Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery – Sir Declan Morgan appointed as Chief Commissioner; Peter Sheridan appointed as Commissioner for Investigations; Lindsay Todd appointed as Lead Non-executive Commissioner; Kathleen Russ, Rogelio Alonso and Brice Dickson appointed as Non-executive Commissioners; Tristan Pedelty appointed interim chief executive.
Northern Ireland Fishery Harbour Authority – Stephen Welch appointed as chair and Maynard Mawhinney and Siobhan McCauley appointed as Board members for four years.
Tourism Northern Ireland – Karly Greene, Micheal Counahan and John Hood appointed as Board members.
HM Treasury
UK Infrastructure Bank – Chris Grigg CBE re-appointed as chair for three years from 24 May 2024; Muriel Dube appointed as Non-executive director for four years from 14 December and chair of the Remuneration Committee in due course following a handover period.
Non-Ministerial Departments
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency – David Jones appointed as Non-executive chair.
Houses of Parliament
House of Commons
- The Committee on Standards has recommended that Scott Benton be suspended for 35 days. If MPs approve the suspension, it will trigger a recall petition and could lead to a by-election in Blackpool South.
- Business and Trade Committee – Julie Marson added; Bim Afolami discharged.
- Defence Committee – Robert Courts resigned as chair on 12 December – nominations for the election of a new chair are now open and will close on 6 January. If there is more than one candidate, the ballot will take place on 17 January – there is currently one nomination: Rehman Chishti. Jesse Norman added as member.
- Energy Security and Net Zero Committee – Derek Thomas added; Mark Jenkinson discharged.
- Foreign Affairs Committee – Ranil Jayawardena added; Saqib Bhatti discharged.
- Holocaust Memorial Bill Select Committee – John Stevenson added; Mike Penning discharged.
- Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee – Tom Hunt added; Paul Holmes discharged.
- Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy – Sarah Atherton added; Tom Tugendhat discharged.
- Procedure Committee – Nickie Aiken added; Aaron Bell discharged.
- Public Accounts Committee – Paula Barker, Sarah Owen and Jeremy Quin added; Ashley Dalton, Jill Mortimer and Nick Smith discharged.
- Science, Innovation and Technology Committee – James Davies added; Aaron Bell discharged.
- Treasury Committee – Thérèse Coffey and Stephen Hammond added; James Duddridge and Andrea Leadsom discharged.
House of Lords
- The Bishop of Winchester was introduced in the House on 12 December.
- Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank (Lib Dem, life peer) retired from the House on 12 December.
- Robert Douglas-Miller was raised to the peerage as Lord Douglas-Miller on 15 December; he will be introduced in the House on 18 December.
- All-Party Groups added to 13 December Register: Barbados; Dominica; Antimicrobial Resistance; Bereavement Support; Deep Geothermal; Semiconductors; Sleep Apnoea.
Devolved Administrations
Welsh Parliament
- Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee – Samuel Kurtz added; James Evans discharged.
Welsh Government
- Mark Drakeford to stand down as first minister of Wales and leader of Welsh Labour once a successor is chosen, expected to be by March 2024. He will remain as MS for Cardiff West until the next election in 2026.
- Welsh Language Partnership Council – Anwen Eluned Davies, Meurig Jones, Manon Cadwaladr, Tegryn Jones, Meleri Light, Savanna Jones and Owain Wyn appointed as members for three years.
Northern Ireland executive
- Ministerial Advisory Group for Architecture and the Built Environment NI – Andrew Haley re-appointed as chair and Roisin Donnelly re-appointed as member until November 2027.
Local Authorities
- Cheshire East Council – Rob Polkinghorne appointed as chief executive from 3 January 2024.
- Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council – Martin Hamilton to stand down as chief executive in March 2024.
- Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council – Adrian Stanfield appointed as interim chief executive until May 2024.
- Woking Borough Council – Robert Carr appointed as managing director commissioner from April 2024; Tony Redmond appointed as lead commissioner, succeeding Jim Taylor.
Industry
Interest Groups
- Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales – Paul Streets to stand down as chief executive on 31 May 2024.
- National Theatre – Indhu Rubasingham appointed as artistic director from 2025.
- Save the Children UK – Gwen Hines to stand down as chief executive after being appointed chief executive of Plant Heritage.