Members: John Sunderland (Chairman), Roger Carr and
Baroness Wilcox.
The Chief Executive Officer and Chief Human Resources
Officer attend meetings at the invitation of the Chairman
of the Committee. The Group Secretary also attends and is
secretary to the Committee. This Committee is empowered to
bring to the Board recommendations as to the appointment of any new Executive or Non-Executive Director, provided that
the Chairman, in developing such recommendations, consults all
Directors and reflects that consultation in any recommendation
of the Nomination Committee. The Committee ensures that a
review of Board candidates is undertaken in a disciplined and
objective manner.
The Nomination Committee, in discussions with the Non-
Executive Directors, is responsible for succession planning
within the Board. The Board as a whole is responsible for
development plans, including the progressive refreshing of the
Board, which are reviewed on an annual basis. The plans involve
an annual objective and comprehensive evaluation of the
balance of skills, knowledge and experience of the Board.
We have appointed two new Non-Executives in the past few
months, and two of the longest serving Non-Executives will
retire in the near future. The re-elections proposed at
the AGM reflect the Board's policy on its development. No
Director participates in the discussions considering his or her
successor.
The members of this Committee all held office throughout the
year and at the date of this Report.
During 2005, the Committee progressed the appointment of
Lord Patten as a new Non-Executive Director. External search
consultants were engaged to produce a list of 10 candidates
for this appointment. This list was then reduced to a short list
of candidates which was discussed between the Chairman and
the other members of the Nomination Committee on an
individual basis. The members of the Nomination Committee
then met Lord Patten and his nomination was presented to the
Board for approval at the May Board meeting. The Committee
also met two times in 2005 to review succession planning and
future non-executive appointments.
