Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information

Today, Professor Richard Susskind OBE will stand down as Chair of APPSI, a position he has filled since APPSI was formed in April 2003.  Professor Susskind will be replaced by Professor David Rhind, CBE, who formally takes up his post on 1 May 2008.

Professor Susskind's biography highlights a wealth of expertise from which which APPSI has enormously benefitted:

Richard Susskind is an independent adviser to global professional firms and national governments. He is I.T. Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice, Honorary Professor at Gresham College, London and a part-time law professor at the Centre for Law, Computers and Technology at Strathclyde University. He is a law columnist at the Times and the author of five books on legal technology. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the British Computer Society, he received his law degree from the University of Glasgow and his doctorate from Balliol College, Oxford. He was awarded an O.B.E. in the Millennium New Year’s Honours List for services to I.T. in the Law and to the Administration of Justice

Today, we say goodbye to Trevor Fenwick and David Warlock.

The biographies of these members highlight the wealth of expertise they brought to the Panel:

Trevor Fenwick, APPSI expert member in statistical information, 2003-2008
Trevor Fenwick is Managing Director of Euromonitor International Plc, a publisher of international business information, reference sources and market analysis databases. The company operates from offices in London, Chicago, Singapore, Shanghai and Vilnius. He is currently Director of Public Affairs for, and past Chairman of, the UK Directory and Database Publishers Association and a member of the Periodical Publishers Association’s Government and Regulatory Affairs Committee. He is a Past President of the European Association of Directory and Database Publishers. Currently a member of the Legal Deposit Advisory Panel he is closely involved with identifying and representing the database sector’s views on intellectual property and data protection to UK Government and the European Commission. He holds a degree in Economics and Government from Essex University, a postgraduate qualifications in marketing, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

David Worlock, APPSI representative member, Digital Information Publishers, 2003-2008
David Worlock is Chairman of the Digital Content Forum, which is the representative organization for 32 UK information industry organizations and provides a focus for their dialogue with government. He is also an independent commercial representative on the Content Advisory Board (Department for Education and Skills). In 2004 he acted as Special Advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology’s enquiry on Science publishing. David has worked closely with industry trade associations. For five years he was chairman of the European Information Industry Association, and then of the Information Communication Industry Association. He has been a member of subcommittees of the Publishers Association, the Periodical Publishers Association and the Newspaper Society.

Highlight of the meeting on 22 April 2008:

Attendance of Michael Wills MP, Minister of State for Justice to hear a presentation by Rufus Pollock, author of the Cambridge Study on models of PSI provision via Trading Funds.

Minutes - 22 April 2008

Today, the Minister of State for Justice, Michael Wills MP announced the appointment of Professor David Rhind, CBE as the new Chair of APPSI. 

Professor Rhind replaces Professor Richard Susskind, OBE who was Chair of APPSI from April 2003-April 2008.

See press release for further details.