Patricia Gallan QPM, Thomas Goldsmith, Susan Lapworth and Baroness Hunt of Bethnal Green have been appointed as Commissioners as part of the Civil Service Commission with their terms to commence from 1 July 2026 (Thomas Goldsmith’s term will commence from 1 November 2026). Together they bring valuable skills and experience from a range of sectors.
Patricia Gallan has also been appointed as the Commission’s Link Commissioner for Scotland.
The Civil Service Commission is an independent statutory body, which oversees appointments to the Civil Service, ensuring that they are made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. Commissioners also promote and hear appeals brought under the Civil Service Code.
Following an open competition, the new Civil Service Commissioners have been recommended by the Prime Minister and subsequently approved by HM The King.
Baroness Gisela Stuart, the First Civil Service Commissioner, said
Patricia, Ruth, Susan, and Tom bring a wealth of leadership experience from a range of sectors to our work as the independent regulator for Civil Service recruitment.
Their experience and expertise will benefit our work across the entire civil service career lifecycle; from ensuring fair, merit based entry, to providing assurance that exit maintains the integrity of government via the Business Appointment Rules.
I look forward to them joining our board of Commissioners. Together, we will work to maintain a Civil Service appointed on merit, with the skills needed to deliver public services across the country.
The new Commissioners announced today have joined the Commission for a 5 year, non-renewable term. Commissioners work part-time, typically between 4 and 8 days a month.
Notes
- Read more information about the work of the Commission.
- The Civil Service Commission was established as a statutory body in November 2010 under the provisions of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. The Commission is independent of Ministers and the Civil Service. It is responsible for upholding the requirement that recruitment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.
- Biographies of the new commissioners
Patricia Gallan QPM
Patricia Gallan is a Non-Executive Director at the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust and the Trade Remedies Authority, following two terms on the Board of HM Revenue & Customs. A former police officer, Patricia was Assistant Commissioner Specialist Crime and Operations of the Metropolitan Police Service, retiring in 2018. She previously served as Deputy Assistant Commissioner (Specialist Operations – Security and Protection) and also Deputy Assistant Commissioner (Professionalism) from 2012 to 2015. She was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal (QPM) in 2006.
Thomas Goldsmith
Tom Goldsmith is the Clerk of the House of Commons and its principal constitutional adviser. He is the co-author of the 8th and 9th edition of How Parliament Works, and previously served as the Head of the Committee Office and Principal Clerk of the Table Office. He will take up the role of Civil Service Commissioner on 1 November 2026.
Susan Lapworth
Susan Lapworth was until April 2026 the Chief Executive of the Office for Students (OfS). She previously served as the OfS’s first Director of Regulation, following on from her role as Director of Regulation and Assurance at the Higher Education Funding Council for England. She has held various senior university roles, specialising in academic quality, institutional strategy, and statutory oversight.
Baroness (Ruth) Hunt of Bethnal Green
Baroness Hunt is a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords and Co-Founder of the consultancy Deeds + Words. She currently serves as a Trustee of the Lloyds Bank Foundation and an Adviser to the Angiolini Inquiry. Previously, she was the Chief Executive of Stonewall and Deputy Chair of Shelter.