260.Paragraph 4(a) provides for the term of appointment of a relevant office-holder to be 5 years. This runs from the start of the person’s appointment as a relevant office-holder, meaning that if someone is appointed to the role of panel chair but is not immediately commissioned to sit on a particular panel, the 5 year period begins running immediately regardless.
261.Paragraph 4(b) allows a relevant office-holder’s term to be extended as long as the extension is for a year or less. Extension is envisaged as a less formal means of continuing on a person’s contract on a short-term basis. For example, this might be used where a new appointee is unable to start immediately and there is a desire not to have a gap between the current appointee and the new one. A person’s appointment could be extended on more than one occasion (for example, a 3 month extension might prove to be insufficient and another month needs to be added to it) but this would be subject to the overall cap of 1 year.
262.Paragraph 4(c) allows an individual to be reappointed, but the total period of appointment (including any extension) may not exceed 8 years. That maximum limit therefore aligns with the maximum period in the code of practice for Ministerial appointments to public bodies in Scotland. Reappointment is envisaged as a more substantial decision, closer to the process of the original appointment than the extension process would be.
Schedule – Domestic Homicide Or Suicide Reviews: Public Appointments Paragraph 4 – Tenure