The Act Schedule 1: The Serious Organised Crime Agency Paragraph 1: Membership
69.This paragraph determines the membership of the Board of SOCA. It is to consist of a chairman and ordinary members to be appointed by the Secretary of State, the Director General (also appointed by the Secretary of State (paragraph 9(1))), and other ex-officio members to be appointed by the Director General after consulting the chairman. The Secretary of State may determine the number of ordinary members and must ensure that the ordinary members together with the chairman are always in the majority. Thus, for example, if there were five ex-officio members (including the Director General), there must be at least five ordinary members, who with the chairman, would form a majority on the Board. The minimum membership is five, namely the chairman and at least four ordinary and ex-officio members; this ties in with the minimum attendance at any meeting setting the quorum for meetings (paragraph 17(3)).