Membership of the Advisory Council

Members

Chair: Sir Geoffrey Vos

Master of the Rolls

No registered interests to declare.

Deputy chair: David Rossington CB

David Rossington CB is a former senior civil servant. He has worked for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), including as Finance Director and acting Director General He has also worked for other Government departments including what is now the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

He provides advice to the Gambling Commission on the competition for the fourth National Lottery licence and is an independent member of the Gambling Commission Committee on this competition. He also occasionally carries out independent review work for other public sector bodies, including DCMS.

Dr Jim Bamberg

Dr Jim Bamberg is an historian and author who was formerly the official historian of BP plc. He wrote two volumes of BP’s official history published by Cambridge University Press and a third unpublished volume. He was also responsible for BP’s archives.

On leaving BP he joined Harvard Business School and afterwards worked as an independent consultant and formed his own historical consultancy company, Storica Ltd.

Jim holds a first class honours degree and a PhD in history from the University of Cambridge, as well as an honours degree in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the University of Reading; a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge; President of the Association of Business Historians; and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

No registered interests to declare.

Eleni Bide

Eleni Bide is currently the Head of Library and Archives for The Goldsmiths’ Company. Within this role, her professional practice includes teaching, writing and media work on the history of goldsmithing.

Eleni also sits on the Committee of the Silver Society and edits The Goldsmiths’ Review.

Dr Nigel Fletcher

Dr Nigel Fletcher is a political historian and author. He is currently the Ken Young Memorial Research Fellow at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London.

He previously taught political and contemporary history for 7 years at King’s College London, where he remains a Visiting Fellow.

In 2010, he co-founded the Centre for Opposition Studies, a cross-party research group, and he frequently writes and broadcasts on political and constitutional issues.

Kate Grimley Evans

Kate Grimley-Evans qualified as a solicitor in 2004 and specialises in Data Protection and Freedom of Information. She was previously Head of Information Law at a large law firm and now practises on a consultancy basis.

Kate is also the Managing Director of her own company which specialises in information law training and compliance audits.

In April 2020, Kate was appointed as a judicial office holder, carrying out a part time role as a Fee Paid Member of the Upper Tribunal assigned to the Administrative Appeals Chamber (Information Rights Jurisdiction) and First Tier Tribunal General Regulatory Chamber (Information Rights Jurisdiction).

Kate has recently been appointed as a Deputy Traffic Commissioner. Traffic Commissioners and Deputy Traffic Commissioners are appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport but are independent public post holders. They act both as independent regulators and in a judicial role, as single person tribunals when conducting public inquiries in relation to licence applications and disciplinary matters.

Johanna Higgins

Johanna Higgins is the Northern Ireland Commissioner for the Criminal Cases Review Commission. She is a barrister and Bencher of the Inner Temple, London, also called to the King’s Inns, Dublin and the Bar of Northern Ireland.

She was in private practice as a Barrister in Northern Ireland between 1994 and 2000. Following this, she was a Lawyer with the Law Centre NI and later a Senior Public Prosecutor.

She sat on the board of the Historic Buildings Committee in Northern Ireland.

In 2020 Johanna was given a 4 year appointment by the House of Commons as a member of the newly founded Independent Expert Panel.

She was elected as a member of the Royal Historical Society in 2018 and is completing a project for Bloomsbury Cultural Histories.

Martin Howard CB

Martin Howard is a retired UK senior security official. His last two postings in government were as Director for Cyber Policy and International Relations at GCHQ and as Chief of the Assessments Staff in the Cabinet Office Joint Intelligence Organisation. 

He previously served as Assistant Secretary General for Operations in NATO, dealing with the alliance’s missions in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Libya, Iraq and on counter-piracy; as Director General Operational Policy in the Ministry of Defence; and as Deputy Chief of Defence Intelligence.

He also worked in the Northern Ireland Office acting as Private Secretary to the Secretary of State and as part of the UK team that helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement.

No registered interests to declare.

Lex Jones

Lex Jones is the Director of Anti-Money Laundering at the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Before joining the SRA, Alexandra served as CEO of the Registry Trust. She also held senior roles at the Financial Ombudsman Service and HSBC Bank.

Prof Leon Litvack

Professor Leon Litvack is Professor of Victorian Studies at the Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

He is the author of numerous scholarly publications, an authority on the life and works of Charles Dickens, and Principal Editor of the Charles Dickens Letters Project. Leon is also a freelance broadcaster for the BBC.

He has held public appointments on National Museums Northern Ireland, Arts Council Northern Ireland, and the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council.

He is a Director of Tobernagee Properties Ltd, and Charles Dickens Letters Ltd.

Sally McInnes

Sally McInnes is a profesionally trained archivist and was formerly Head of Unique and Contemporary Content at the National Library of Wales, as well as the Chair of Archives and Records Association Wales. As a former Director of the Digital Preservation Coalition, she worked to raise public and institutional awareness of digital preservation issues in Wales and beyond.

In recognition of her contribution to recordkeeping, Sally was awarded an MBE in 2024 for Services to Documentary History. She is a Fellow of the Archives and Records Association.

Sally also sits as a member of the Forum on Academic Research and Historical Manuscripts.

No registered interests to declare.

Sir David Natzler

Sir David Natzler is a retired senior parliamentary official. He was appointed Clerk of the House of Commons in 2015, retiring from that office in 2019. He joined the House of Commons Service in October 1975 and, over the course of his career, served as Clerk to a number of select committees, including Defence (1989–1995) and Trade and Industry (1997–2001). He then held various senior management positions, including Secretary to the House of Commons Commission, Clerk of Legislation and, from 2011 to 2014, Clerk Assistant.

No registered interests to declare.

Helene Pantelli

Helene Pantelli is a qualified solicitor and she spent several years practising law with City law firms. Most recently, Helene has worked at the Financial Ombudsman Service as a senior ombudsman, a statutory decision-maker responsible for resolving disputes between consumers and financial services providers, and Head of Practice for Investments and Pensions disputes.

Helene represented the Financial Ombudsman Service on the government advisory group on social impact investing in the UK, the report for which – 'Growing a culture of social impact investing in the UK' - was published at the end of 2017. 

No registered interests to declare.

Jonathan Scherbel-Ball

Jonathan Scherbel-Ball is a media and information law barrister at 5RB Chambers in London, practicing in these fields of law in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. He is a member of the Attorney General’s 'B' Panel of Counsel and has served as a part-time Judge of the First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) since 2024. 

Prof Sally Sheard

Professor Sally Sheard is Executive Dean of the Institute of Population Health at the University of Liverpool, where she also holds the Andrew Geddes and John Rankin Chair of Modern History. She is a health policy analyst and historian, with a research focus on the interface between expert advisers and policymakers. 

Sally has over 30 years working in higher education. She has written for and appeared in numerous television and radio programmes.

James Strachan

James Strachan is Chief Executive of Eastleigh Borough Council in Hampshire, and has been a senior leader in Hampshire local government for 16 years. Previously, James was Director of Public Services and Marketing at The National Archives, and served as Secretary to the official review of the 30-year rule, which was commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. 

James has also worked at the Cabinet Office, and had a career in publishing prior to joining the civil service. James currently serves as a magistrate on the West Hampshire Bench, based in Southampton.

Aruna Verma

Aruna Verma is a lawyer, associate professor, and Campus Dean at The University of Law, Moorgate. She is a qualified Solicitor working predominantly in litigation.

Aruna also sits as a Chair at The Valuation Tribunal and the Chair of Governors at a local school. Aruna is a trained mediator and online dispute resolution specialist.

Sir Simon Wessely

Sir Simon Wessely is the Regius Chair of Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IOPPN). He is also a Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist at the Maudsley and King’s College Hospitals.

He is an active clinical academic psychiatrist with >1000 publications, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). He is a Past President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal Society of Medicine. He was Dean of the IOPPN (2022–23) and is now a Non Executive Director of NHS-England.

In 2003 he founded the King’s Centre for Military Health Research. He was knighted in 2013 for services to military health and psychological medicine. He chaired the government’s Independent Review of the Mental Health Act (2017–19) and was a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission (2017–23).