27 July 2001
FIRST PANEL MEMBERS OF OLDHAM REVIEW APPOINTED

The first members of the independent panel set up to investigate the riots in Oldham were announced today.Chairman David Ritchie said the five appointees reflected the panel's need to establish the causes of the riots and to produce an action plan for the future.

The five members are former headteacher Jan Atkinson; Waqar Azmi, chief executive of Worcestershire Racial Equality Council; Jim Sharples, former Chief Constable of Merseyside; Maqsood Ahmad, Assistant Inspector HMI Constabulary; Clive Dutton, director of regeneration for Gallagher Estates.It is expected that the name of one further panel member, from the Bangladeshi community, will be announced shortly.

Mr Ritchie, who was in charge of the Government Office in the West Midlands until February this year, said; "I am delighted we have been able to assemble such a strong team. We face a huge task and, with this team and with their expertise in many of the issues we will have to look at, I am confident we can deliver."Our task is to review past events and their causes but the key responsibility is to agree an action plan for the future. The panel has been chosen with that in mind." The panel, which was set up at the instigation of the Home Office, will be based in Oldham town-centre and aims to produce its report by Christmas.

Mr Ritchie, who took up post last week, said the first job was to listen to people in the town. "I have met many people and attended three public meetings in the last few days. I have been greatly encouraged by the amount of goodwill there is towards the work of the panel and impressed by the genuine desire for change."

Notes

1. Panel members are as follows:

David Ritchie, who was closely involved in the Rover Task Force, was born in Manchester and worked for the former North West Regional Office in the city. He was responsible for the first Government-sponsored inner-city programmes, including the one in Oldham, in the late 1970s.

Jan Atkinson, former headteacher of Stretford High School and Stockport School, who in Stretford supervised the amalgamation of two single sex schools on a single site.

Waqar Azmi, 31, chief executive Worcestershire Racial Equality, and a national convenor of the British Federation of Racial Equality Councils.

Jim Sharples, chief constable of Merseyside for almost 10 years until 1998 and a former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Maqsood Ahmad lives in Rochdale and is a former Director of Kirklees Racial Equality Council. He is a member of the Stephen Lawrence Steering Group and an Assistant Inspector HMI Constabulary.

Clive Dutton is director of regeneration for Gallagher Estates and formerly head of regeneration with Sandwell Council. He was seconded to the DETR team which produced the Government's Urban White Paper.

2. The independent panel was set up at the instigation of the Home Office and will report to Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, Greater Manchester Police and the Greater Manchester Police Authority.