Former top government lawyer Sir Jonathan Jones KC will join the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman as a non-executive member.
Jones, who was Treasury solicitor and head of the Government Legal Department from 2014 until 2020, will become a non-exec on the PHSO board on 1 July.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, the former national medical director of NHS England, and business leader and physician Dr Mark Chakravarty will join the board tomorrow. Powis, a consultant nephrologist, is a professor at University College London, while Chakravarty is vice chair of the unitary board of directors at the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence. He was previously the global head of communications and patient advocacy for Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
The board provides strategic oversight of PHSO and supports the ombudsman in ensuring the service operates effectively, independently and in the public interest.
Parliamentary and health service ombudsman Paula Sussex CBE said the three new non-execs “bring a wealth of experience from government, health and the healthcare sector”.
“I’m delighted to welcome them to the board. Their expertise and passion for public service will be invaluable as we deliver our new strategy, providing the insight, independence and leadership necessary to enhance how we serve the public.
“As we enter the next phase of our work, our focus continues to be to deliver fair and impartial justice for individuals whilst driving public service improvements and helping public services learn from complaints.
“I look forward to working with them as we transform PHSO into a first-class complaint handling service that will help improve the user experience for all.”
Jones had a nearly 30-year civil service career that began when he joined the Office of Fair Trading in 1989 and spanned various departments in a range of legal roles.
He left government in September 2020, when he resigned in protest over ministers’ willingness to break international law with post-Brexit legislation. A year later, he became a senior consultant at the public and administrative law team at Linklaters, where he advises clients on public law and practical engagement with government.
He is also part of the UK Governance Project, a party-neutral commission whose members include former ministers and officials. The commission has made a number of recommendations including updating legislation to prevent ministers from directing civil servants to flout the civil service code and to make the Civil Service Commission responsible for investigating alleged breaches of the code.