Scottish representative on Passenger Focus reappointed

Stewart Stevenson, Minister for Transport, Climate Change and Infrastructure today announced the re-appointment of the board member with Scottish Interest to the board of Passenger Focus.

James King has been re-appointed to the board of Passenger Focus, previously known as Rail Passengers Council. Mr King is also the convener of the Passenger View Scotland (PVS), formally known as Public Transport Users Committee for Scotland (PTUC), and a member of the British Transport Police Authority board.

The part-time appointment will be for one year and will run from 24 July 2009 until 23 July 2010.

Mr King was first appointed to this role in 2005. He was appointed as convener of PVS in May 2008 and was re-appointed to the British Transport Police Authority board in July 2008.

The Rail Passengers Council was established under the terms of the Railways Act 2005 as an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Transport and replaced the eight regional Rail Passengers’ Committees as a UK-wide rail passenger consumer body. The Chairperson and 12 board members were appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport, with additional members, one each nominated by the Scottish Government, the London Assembly and the National Assembly for Wales.

The RPC’s remit is to act as a rail passenger organisation that secures improvements to services, providing help, advice and information to customers; helps form and develop the main policies, procedures and regulation of matters affecting rail passengers; and functions as a national campaigning and lobbying organisation, with more emphasis than its predecessor organisation on research and publishing.

Passenger Focus came into effect as the operating name of the Rail Passengers Council on Wednesday 25 January 2006.

All re-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 (if there is any to be declared) to be made public. James King undertook no political activity in the past five years.