The alcohol industry’s Independent Complaints Panel (ICP) is pleased to announce the appointment of three new Panel members.
Following a rigorous and highly competitive recruitment process, Karen Betts OBE, Matt Barwell and Richard Schofield have been appointed to the Panel and have attended their first meeting.
- Karen is the Chief Executive of the Food & Drink Federation and is a former CEO of the Scotch Whisky Association. Prior to that, she held several posts in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Cabinet Office. Before joining government, Karen was a lawyer. She has also been an Adviser to the Government’s Board of Trade. She received an OBE in 2022 for services to international trade.
- Matt has extensive experience working in marketing, corporate affairs and sustainability for three of the world’s leading FMCG businesses, Mars, Diageo and Britvic and currently serves as a board advisor for Accenture. He is a member of the ASA Council and a non-executive director for several private equity backed FMCG businesses.
- Richard is a senior civil servant and former Chief Planning Inspector for England, with considerable experience of chairing public inquiries. Richard is also an independent complaints assessor for the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, is a Panel Chair for the Nursing and Midwifery Council and sits on the Royal Town Planning Institute’s Membership and Ethics Committee.
The Panel is chaired by Rachel Childs and new members are carefully recruited to represent a cross-section of society with a balance of experience and expertise in key areas such as licensing, public health, children’s services and law.
The ICP is independent from the Portman Group and considers complaints brought forward on the naming, packaging, promotion and sponsorship of alcoholic drinks based on the Portman Group’s Codes of Practice. The Panel meets several times a year to consider these complaints and decide whether they are upheld or not upheld based on evidence.
Rachel Childs, Chair of the Independent Complaints Panel said: “It is a real pleasure to be able to welcome three new members to the Panel. Karen, Matt and Richard bring a wealth of experience which will strengthen Panel decision-making and keep producers working within the Portman Group’s Codes of Practice. The Code rules against which the Panel makes its decisions are varied and the complaints we see can be complex; it is therefore vital that Panel members are experienced and balanced in their views and I look forward to working with these new members.
“I also want to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing Panel members, Hina Parmar and Amanda Orchard, for their hard work and expertise over the course of their terms”