28th June 2016
Appointment and Reappointment to the Board for Historic Environment Scotland
The Cabinet Secretary for Culture Tourism and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop,today announced the appointment of Ian Brennan and Ian Robertson as Trustees and the reappointment of Ken Thomson and Janet Brennan to the board for Historic Environment Scotland.
Jane Ryder, the Chair of Historic Environment Scotland, said:
“ I am very pleased to welcome Ian Brennan and Ian Robertson to the Board of HES. They bring a wealthof financial and business experience, drawn fromacross the public and private sector, and they will be a great asset to HES. Together with the reappointment of Dr Ken Thomson and Dr Janet Brennan, current Board members, as well as the recent arrival of our new Chief Executive, Alex Paterson, we havean exciting mix of change and continuity for HES as we celebrate our first anniversary.”
APPOINTMENTS:
Ian Brennanis Director of Financeand Risk at the Scottish Housing Regulator. From November 2013 until July 2016 he was a member of the Board of Glasgow Kelvin College where he chaired the Financial Control Committee. He was a member of the Board of Cardonald College from 2005-2013 and served as vice chair from 2011 to 2013. He also chaired the Audit Committee, the Remuneration Committee and the organisational Development Committee. Mr Brennan previously held positions in higher education, the NHS and the Accounts Commission. Mr Brennan holds a degree in Business from Strathclyde university and an MBA from the University of Glasgow.
Ian Robertson worked for over 30 years in the international energy business, holding positions at Vice President and Executive Vice Presidentlevel. Mr Robertson retired in 2014 when CFO and executive Vice president for Dutch Shell’s global and downstream business. He has extensive experience across many cultures of business strategy. His experience includes many appointments as both executive and non-executive director, and he is a trusteeand president of Shell Trust Bermuda. . He is a business management graduate and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and is currently working part time consulting on a commercial basis.
REAPPOINTMENTS:
Dr Ken Thomson is Principal and Chief Executive of Forth Valley College. The College is a leading centre for skills and traineeship and is also a UK award winner for innovation in 2015. Ken is a senior countryside ranger and began histeachingcareerin 1994at the then Falkirk Collegelecturing inenvironmental studies. He went on to become head of science before joiningthe senior management team in 2003.Ken is a Board Member and Trustee of the SFL/ SDSJoint Skills Committee and SQA’s Accreditation Committee.Ken is a Stirling City Commissioner and member of Falkirk economic partnership. He is a fellow of the Institute of Directors.
Dr Janet Brennan is Chair of the Scottish Castles Association and a champion of the historic built environment. She gives regular lectures on the restoration of Scottish Castles, which was the subject of her PHD thesis. Together with her husband, she restored Barholm Castle in Galloway from a ruinous state in 2003-5, with financial support from Historic Scotland. She has a broad portfolio of Trusteeships in various sectors such as arts, heritage and education, and has worked as a chartered psychologist and former Faculty Head of Behavioural Sciences in an American University overseas. From this she gained much experience in successfully managing people, change and working in teams.
APPOINTMENT
The appointments of Ian Robertson and Ian Brennan will be for four years from 1st of November 2016 to 31st of October 2020. The reappointments of Ken Thomson and Janet Brennan will run for 4 years from 19th of January 2017 until 18th January 2021.
Theseappointments areregulated by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland.
REMUNERATION
Both appointments and reappointmentsfor Historic Environment are non-remunerated and hold a time commitment of 20 days per year.
OTHER MINISTERIAL APPOINTMENTS
Neither Ian Robertson and Ian Brennan, hold other ministerial appointments. Ken Thomson also holds no other ministerial appointments.Janet Brennan is a member of the board of Management at Dumfries and Galloway College, which is a non-remunerated position.
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public. Neither the new appointees or those being reappointed have undertaken any political activity in the last five years.
BACKGROUND
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is a new public body established by the Historic Environment Scotland Act 2014. HES launched on 1 October 2015, combining the functions of its predecessors, Historic Scotland (executive agency) and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS).
HES is an executive Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB). Its primary statutory purpose is to investigate, care for and promote Scotland’s historic environment and to manage its collections as a national resource for reference, study and research.
HES is the lead public body for delivering Scotland’s historic environment strategy Our Place in Time, the largest operator of paid visitor attractions in Scotland and provides advice on the management of Scotland’s wider historic environment. It has a delegated responsibility for the 336 Properties in the Care of the Scottish Ministers, 75 of which are operated as commercial attractions for at least a proportion of the year.
HES has regulatory responsibilities, including for designating our historic environment (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, historic gardens and designed landscapes, battlefields, and wreck sites), and for policy relating to Scotland’s traditionally constructed buildings, defined as those built before 1919, which make up around 20% of the built environment.
Through its grant schemes of around £14.5m per year, HES delivers benefits for communities by helping regenerate and promote the active use, care and maintenance of the historic environment, broadening access to it, promoting sustainable economic and rural development and reinforcing local identity and a sense of place. Between 2005 and 2015, Historic Scotland awarded grants of £131 million that assisted repairs of over £560 million, evidencing the significant leverage that historic environment investment can deliver.
On 27 January 2015, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs announced the first Chair and board members for Historic Environment Scotland (HES).