Attorney General's Office
The Deputy Legal Secretary of the Attorney Generals office, Mr Kevin McGinty, has been named as the preferred candidate for Her Majestys Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate. Mr McGinty will now appear in front of the Justice Select Committee for a pre-appointment hearing before he takes up the position.
The Attorney General Jeremy Wright said:
Mr McGinty has the leadership qualities, vision and integrity required to lead a fair and effective Inspectorate. His knowledge of working with ministerial departments will be a great asset as a Chief Inspector who seeks to maintain quality, drive change and promote good practice within the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office. I would like to pay tribute to the current Chief Inspector, Michael Fuller, who is at the end of his fixed five year term and helped improve performance at the CPS, and ultimately within the criminal justice system as a whole.
Mr Kevin McGinty said:
I am delighted to have been selected as the Attorney Generals preferred candidate for the role. I want to maintain public confidence in the criminal justice system by leading an independent, fair and transparent inspectorate. The work of HCMPSI is crucial to uphold the quality of our criminal justice system and I am looking forward to working with the team to continue delivering high quality inspection programmes.
After 6 years at the criminal Bar, Mr McGinty joined the Fraud Division of the Crown Prosecution Service. Four years later he was seconded to the Attorney Generals Office as a legal adviser on criminal matters, before joining the Bank of England. His work there included prosecutions and advising the regulatory committees of the Bank on their powers under the Banking Act 1987.
In December 1997 he returned to the Attorney Generals Office to advise the Attorney General on all aspects of his role as Attorney General for Northern Ireland before becoming Director Criminal Law and Deputy Legal Secretary in 2011.
Public appointments are made in line with the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies. A Public Appointments Assessor, selected by the Public Appointments Commission, chaired the recruitment panel and is independent of government and the civil service. The panel recommended their preferred candidate to the Attorney, who followed their advice. Information about the requirements of the post and the selection process is available here: