Environment secretary appoints interim chair for government advisor on nature recovery

Environment secretary, Steve Barclay, has appointed Cath Denholm as interim chair of the government’s statutory nature advisor, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), following the departure of previous chair, Charles Banner.

Denholm (pictured) has been a member of the committee since April 2022 and was previously the deputy chair. Her appointment ends on 30 June 2024 or until a “substantive chair” is appointed. Her interim appointment was an exceptional appointment without competition, following consultation with the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

The JNCC’s brief is to provide “robust scientific evidence and advice to help decision makers turn science into action for nature recovery” on land and at sea. It works with partners throughout the UK, the UK Overseas Territories, the Crown Dependencies and around the world.

Denholm was interim chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) from September 2023 to March 2024, and returned to her earlier post of Chief Operating Officer in April 2024.

She worked for more than 20 years at NHS Scotland in management and strategic roles and is a member of the Institute of Directors and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She sat on the board of NatureScot from 2016 and was deputy chair between 2019 and March 2022.