Written question asked by Lord Laird (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Rooker (Labour) on Monday, 10 October 2005.

Equality Commission for Northern Ireland

Question: Whether Bob Collins, Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, applied for the post or was headhunted; what was the role of the Irish Government in securing the appointment; how many persons were interviewed for the position; and how many of these were based in Great Britain.

Answer: Mr Collins applied for the chief commissioner post and underwent the same appointments process as other candidates. The process was run in accordance with the guidelines set out by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA). He was not headhunted.The Irish Government played no role in securing the appointment.Five candidates were interviewed for the Chief Commissioner post. Of those five, four were based in Northern Ireland and one, Mr Collins, was based in the Republic of Ireland.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 1498; 674 c23WA
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Interviews Public appointments Equality Commission for Northern Ireland Irish Government Collins, Bob
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk