New IPSA Chair Ruth Evans takes up post

Date published: 1 June 2016

IPSA today welcomes the arrival of Ruth Evans who starts her new position as Chair, replacing Professor Sir Ian Kennedy.

Beginning her tenure as Chair, Ruth Evans said:

“I am honoured to have been given this important responsibility and continuing the successful work of Sir Ian Kennedy. IPSA plays an essential role - to regulate MPs’ pay, pensions, business costs and expenses, to safeguard public funds, and support MPs in their duties too.

“I look forward to leading IPSA over the next five years as we carry out our public consultation into the rules of our Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses, ensuring that IPSA administers payments according to robust and easy to understand rules whilst providing an essential service to elected members of Parliament.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

  1. IPSA Chair Ruth Evans was appointed to the role by SCIPSA and approved by HM The Queen. Read more about the appointment.

Biography

Ruth Evans has a 35-year track record representing the consumer and public interest across a wide range of industries, serving as:

  • Chair and Deputy Chair of a range of regulatory boards (Authority for Television on Demand, Bar Standards Board, Ofcom Consumer Panel and the General Medical Council’s Standards Committee);

  • Chair of two independent Inquiries (the Brompton and Harefield Inquiries into Baby Deaths, and the Independent Inquiry into Drug Testing at Work);

  • Non-executive director of four financial services businesses;

  • Leader of three charities (War on Want, MIND and Maternity Alliance); and

  • Chief executive and Accounting Officer of the National Consumer Council, a public body, for seven years.

Ruth is currently also the Chair of the Payments Strategy Forum, established by the Payments Systems Regulator to bring together the payments industry and representatives of all those that use payment services to deliver a collaborative Strategy for competition and innovation. She is also a Non-Executive Director of the Serious Fraud Office.

Previously, she has been a non-executive director at the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the National Audit Office, Queen’s Counsel Appointments Panel, the Nationwide Building Society and Liverpool Victoria Group and Senior Independent Director of CPP Group PLC. She also is a Founding Advisor to a new start-up, Farewill, a flagship online business that revolutionises the way we make wills.

Ruth began her professional life in charities, volunteering for Liberty after graduation before being appointed at 22 as the first director to a newly established coalition of charities, the Maternity Alliance.

Following that, Ruth joined Mind as Deputy Director, then Acting Director, before taking over as Chief Executive of War on Want where, upon arrival, she discovered the charity was insolvent and took it into receivership. From there she went on to run the National Consumer Council for three terms of office.