PRESS RELEASE : Reappointments to the Boundary Commission of England and the Boundary Commission of Wales [July 2023]

The Lord Chancellor has announced the reappointments of Mrs Justice Jefford to the role of Deputy Chair for the Boundary Commission for Wales (BCW), and Mr Justice Lane to the role of Deputy Chair for the Boundary Commission for England (BCE).

Mrs Justice Jefford is reappointed from 23 June 2023 to 4 October 2025. Mr Justice Lane is reappointed from 23 June 2023 to 22 December 2023.

Appointments and re-appointments are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, and have been made under Section 3(a) and (c) of Schedule 1 of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, and are in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

The Boundary Commission for Wales carries out boundary reviews of parliamentary constituencies in Wales, and submits its recommendations to the government.

The Boundary Commission for England is required by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 to review the parliamentary constituencies in England every 5 years.

Both the BCW and BCE are advisory non-departmental public bodies, sponsored by the Cabinet Office.

Biographies

Mrs Justice Jefford

Mrs Justice Jefford was appointed; a Recorder in 2007; as Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 2008 and; as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2016. She was appointed as a High Court Judge of the Queen’s Bench Division (now the King’s Bench Division), in 2016, and sits in the Technology and Construction Court and the Administrative Court.

In 2019, she was appointed as the Administrative Court Liaison Judge for the North Eastern Circuit and – in 2020 – as a Presiding Judge of the Wales Circuit. In 2020, she was appointed as the Deputy Chair of the Boundary Commission for Wales.

Mr Justice Lane

Mr Justice Lane was appointed: as a fee-paid immigration adjudicator in 1996; a salaried immigration adjudicator, in 2001, and a Vice President of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal in 2003.

In 2005, he became a senior immigration judge in the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. In 2010, he became an Upper Tribunal judge. In 2014, he was appointed as President of the General Regulatory Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal.

In 2016, he was appointed a deputy High Court judge and, in 2017, a High Court judge in the Queen’s Bench Division (now the King’s Bench Division). He was President of the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber, from 2017- 2022. Mr Justice Lane was appointed, as Deputy Chair of the Boundary Commission for England, in 2020.