Rosemary Agnew took up the post of Scottish Public Services Ombudsman on 1 May 2017. Immediately prior to this she was the Scottish Information Commissioner (2012-2017).

Since 2001, Rosemary has held various roles in relation to public sector complaints, including with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and the Local Government Ombudsman in the UK.

Rosemary is committed to transparent, sustainable improvement in Scottish public services. She sees complaints and what is learned from them as an integral part of the improvement landscape. Equally, she recognises the importance of being the final stage of the complaints process in Scotland for most public services and in ensuring that, where things go wrong for individuals, action is taken to put them right as far as possible.

Prior to setting up the company, Donald worked as Director of the PPS Scotland Office for nine and a half years, as a company with specific expertise in inward investment, government and public service issues. Donald has worked on projects with an investment value more than £4billion in recent years. His work has covered most of Scotland working in 28 of the 32 local authority areas.

Donald was a councillor for over 20 years, working extensively on delivering economic development and investment and was one of the key public sector figures who helped Edinburgh become the strongest city economy in the UK outside London. Donald helped the city’s Festivals to thrive and conceived and created Edinburgh’s Christmas Festival which brings nearly £200million into the city each year. Donald was unashamedly pro-development during his period in office.

Sam Ghibaldan has held a number of senior roles in government, consumer advocacy and utilities regulation.

His recent roles include:

Programme Director for Consumer Scotland, leading to its establishment
Director of the Customer Forum, focused on building the Strategic Review of Scottish Water around customers’ expectations
Member of Scottish Power Energy Networks’ Customer Engagement Group
Head of the Consumer Futures Unit in Citizens Advice Scotland
As a Senior Special Adviser in the Scottish Government between 1999 and 2007, he led the adviser teams of successive Deputy First Ministers.

Before that he worked in a corporate communications consultancy, on the Scottish devolution referendum campaign in 1997, and as a researcher in the House of Commons.

Chair, South of Scotland Enterprise - Professor Russel Griggs OBE was also Chair of SOSEP, the body that created SOSE.

Russel Chairs the Scottish Government’s independent Regulatory Review Group which advises and work on better regulation in Scotland; is a member of the Scottish Government’s Aquaculture Council; is Chair of Scottish Mines Restoration Trust a charity: is a Board member and senior Independent Director on the oversight Board for the Comptroller and Auditor General for the States of Jersey; and is a Board member of Lenlyn Holdings Ltd, a financial services company.

He is honorary Professor of the University of Glasgow, was an associate Professor at Boston University and a member of the board of the Business School at Georgia Southern University. He was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2008 for services to Scottish industry.

Jennifer leads the Harper Macleod public law litigation and public inquiries practice across Scotland. She is an experienced lawyer who leads a team of lawyers focussing on public, administrative and constitutional law; public inquiries; civil liberties & human rights; and disputes involving the public sector and government (national and local). Jennifer works closely with her clients, taking a pragmatic approach to finding the best solutions for them.

With long-standing recognised specialist expertise in public law and disputes involving public bodies (including government), Jennifer has significant experience of advising and representing clients on public, regulatory and constitutional law issues, including in Judicial Review and Appeals against decisions of a wide range of public authorities. She draws upon this practical litigation experience when advising clients on statutory/regulatory obligations and wider reputation management.

Jennifer has an outstanding record of success in winning cases for government bodies, regulators, companies, campaign groups and individuals, in court and representing their interests at public inquiries. She is one of a handful of Scottish solicitors with experience of litigating in the Scottish Courts, UK Supreme Court and Court of Justice of the European Union.

Jennifer advises clients on legislation and statutory interpretation, the powers and duties of public bodies, the art of getting decisions right first time and representing clients in situations when decision-making is questioned. The setting might be a Board/committee meeting, investigation, tribunal, court or public inquiry. Decisions could relate to competition /state aid/ procurement, planning/ environmental/ climate change issues, data protection & information law, education matters, looked-after children/ vulnerable adults/ homeless accommodation, or other areas where decisions are made that affect individuals, businesses and communities. Jennifer’s expertise is found in a thorough understanding of the relevant legislative/ regulatory/ procedural frameworks and how to identify and address areas susceptible to challenge.

Jennifer’s thorough understanding of the often legally complex and politically sensitive issues affecting those operating within and engaging with the public sector allows her to give insightful advice, tailored to clients’ specific situations and needs.

She is a ‘Top Ranked Lawyer’ by Chambers UK Guide to the Legal Profession in Administrative & Public Law (13 years of ranking) and a ranked lawyer Leading Individual” in Civil Liberties & Human Rights, Environment: Climate Change (UK-wide) and Parliamentary & Public Affairs. She is also recommended by The Legal 500 in Charities & Not-for-Profit, EU & Competition, Environment, Local Government and Planning. Jennifer is also the only Scottish lawyer ranked by Chambers UK Guide for work in the UK-wide specialist field of Climate Change.

Fiona is one of the most highly-regarded lawyers in Scotland for public, parliamentary and administrative law. She has a deep working knowledge and expertise across a range of legal areas including public and regulatory law, data protection, freedom of information, human rights, corporate governance and parliamentary affairs.

With a background in both contentious and non-contentious matters, she is highly experienced in a wide range of sectors, with a particular focus on education as well as the public sector.

She has in-depth knowledge and first-hand insight of how Governments and Parliaments work on a day-to-day basis, alongside extensive experience of legislative procedures and public sector governance.

She has worked in the Scottish Parliament, UK Parliament and the US Senate in legal and political roles, and in higher education. She was a member of the Scottish Government’s Human Rights Leadership Task Force and sits on the Law Society of Scotland’s sub-committees on constitutional law, human rights, privacy law and its freedom of information working group.

Fiona is ranked by Chambers in Band 1 for both Administrative & Public Law and Parliamentary & Public Affairs. She is ranked within Legal 500’s Hall of Fame for Parliamentary & Public Affairs, and as a Leading Individual for Education Law.

Ken Macdonald, Head of ICO Regions, leads our Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland offices. A graduate of Edinburgh (MA) and Aberdeen (PhD) universities, Ken joined the ICO in 2005 after a career in the higher education, private consultancy and local authority sectors.

Scotland has its own Information Commissioner who regulates the Freedom for Information (Scotland) Act which covers Scottish public authorities. Because of this, the main focus of our Scottish office is data protection, for which the ICO is the sole regulatory body in Scotland. However, the ICO does have regulatory power under the Freedom of Information Act for UK public authorities based in Scotland. These include:

BBC Scotland (in relation to its public functions); and
The Northern Lighthouse Board.

Mark has been Chief Executive of 3 well known Scottish Charities – Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, Sight Scotland/Sight Scotland Veterans and Age Scotland. He is currently Chair of the UK medical research charity Action Against AMD and a Trustee of Heart Research UK, as well as sitting on Marie Curie’s UK Policy and Research Committee and Scottish Advisory Board. Previous Trustee roles include the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Visionary UK and the Scottish Drugs Forum. He has also been a career mentor for the Mastercard Foundation Fellowship Scheme at the University of Edinburgh.

He has been responsible for a wide range of strategic and operational leadership functions in his career including complex regulated services in health, social care and special educational needs, community-based services, commercial and social enterprises, policy and research. He has extensive experience in media and campaigning work as well as direct leadership experience of service reconfiguration, stakeholder engagement, rebranding exercises and the development of co-created organisational development and people strategies.

He also has valuable experience in Executive-team roles in the NHS in Scotland, as Head of Planning, Performance and Estates at the Scottish Ambulance Service and Interim Director of Planning and Equalities at NHS Health Scotland. He also spent 5 years on secondment to the Scottish Government, taking on Deputy Director roles in Health Improvement and then Healthcare Planning and Quality and a spell as Acting Policy Director in health and social care.

Mark is a member of the Institute of Directors and has an MSc in Social and Public Policy, an MA (Hons) in Politics and a Professional Certificate in Management.