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Appointment of the First Civil Service Commissioner and the Commissioner for Public Appointments

The Prime Minister announced today that Her Majesty in Council has approved the appointment of Janet Paraskeva as the First Civil Service Commissioner and Janet Gaymer CBE as the Commissioner for Public Appointments and a Civil Service Commissioner.

Janet Paraskeva is currently the Chief Executive of the Law Society, and Janet Gaymer is currently the Senior Partner of the law firm Simmons & Simmons.

The Prime Minister also praised their predecessors, Baroness Usha Prashar and Baroness Rennie Fritchie, who have come to the end of their terms of appointment.

Notes to editors

1. Janet Paraskeva has been Law Society Chief Executive for the last five years and in that time has overseen a programme of reform at the Law Society. Prior to her appointment at the Law Society in October 2000, Janet Paraskeva was Director for England of the National Lottery Charities Board. Before that she spent eight years as Chief Executive of the National Youth Agency and Youth Bureau.
2. The Civil Service Commissioners contribute to the development of an effective and impartial Civil Service and support its core values by giving an assurance that appointments are made on merit and by hearing appeals under the Civil Service Code. For more information see: http://www.civilservicecommissioners.gov.uk/index.asp
3. Janet Gaymer CBE became the Senior Partner of Simmons & Simmons in September 2001. Prior to this appointment, she had spent 28 years in employment law and has worked in many industry sectors and in both the private and public sectors. Janet received a CBE in 2004 for her work as Chair of the Employment Tribunal System Taskforce and for services to employment law.
4. The Commissioner for Public Appointment's role is to regulate, monitor, report and advise on appointments made by UK Ministers and by members of the National Assembly for Wales to the boards of around 900 national and regional public bodies. For more information see: http://www.ocpa.gov.uk/

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