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Scottish Water
18/03/2008
Infrastructure Minister Stewart Stevenson today announced the appointment of three members to the Board of Scottish Water.
Mr Stevenson said:
"I am delighted to announce three appointments to the Board of Scottish Water from April 1 2008. After an open competition in compliance with the OCPAS Code David Gray has been appointed for a further term and Alistair Buchanan and Donald Emslie have been appointed as new members. David Gray's appointment offers Scottish Water vital stability as it continues to deliver improvements in quality and standards whilst new members Alistair Buchanan and Donald Emslie will bring new skills and experience to help freshen and reinvigorate the board for the stern challenges ahead.
"Scottish Water's continued success in developing a modern and efficient water infrastructure with good customer service is essential to this Government's drive for sustained economic growth and environmental improvement. Scottish Water has a high quality Board with experience from the public and private sectors and the right skills to take the organisation forward. These new appointments will broaden that skills set and ensure Scottish Water continues to improve its customer service and efficiency."
"My thanks go to Professor Paul Jowitt who will step down on March 31 having already served two terms on Scottish Water's Board following earlier board service with East of Scotland Water. He can take great credit for his part in Scottish Water's success to date."
The appointments are for four years, the posts are part-time and attract remuneration of £19,632 a year for a time commitment of an average of four days per month.
Scottish Water is a public corporation established in 2002 by the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002. It is accountable to Scottish Ministers and through them to the Scottish Parliament for the provision of public water and sewerage services across Scotland.
The appointments were made in accordance with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland's (OCPAS) Code of Practice following open competition.
All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees' political activity (if there is any to be declared) to be made public. None of the appointees has declared any political activity during the past five years.
Brief Biographies of the appointees
David Gray
David was first appointed to Scottish Water's Board in 2002 following the merger of the three regional water authorities. He had served on West of Scotland Water's Board from 1996. He is a chartered accountant and is currently a director of DTZ Holdings plc and a non-executive Director of Romag Holdings plc. Previously he was Managing Director of Caledonian Paper plc, Finance Director of Scottish Hydro-Electric plc, Business Development Director of Scottish and Southern Energy plc and a non-executive Director of F&C Asset Management plc
Alistair Buchanan
Since 2003, Alistair has been the Chief Executive Officer of Ofgem, the Energy Regulator for Great Britain. Prior to that he was one of the lead investment analysts representing the water industry during privatisation in 1988-90 and throughout the 1990s he was an award winning analyst in the City of London and Wall Street focussing on the energy sector. He will bring to Scottish Water's Board a clear understanding of utilities management and first hand knowledge of economic regulation.
Donald Emslie
Donald was Chief Executive of SMG until March 2007 and sat on the Boards of ITV Network and GMTV, chairing the former when it was involved in preparations for Digital Broadcasting and Digital Switchover. He is currently the Chair of the Royal Lyceum Theatre, and is also a board member of the Scottish Arts Council and Skillset UK. He receives no remuneration for these posts. Scottish Water's board will benefit from his experience of managing major capital investment programmes to improve the overall quality of service at a national level.