Independent Ethics Panel &#8211; Members

The Panel provides independent and effective challenge and assurance around integrity, standards and ethics of decision-making in policing.

As a collective members bring a wealth of knowledge and experience from a variety of different backgrounds and make a meaningful contribution and add value to the policing of South Yorkshire.

Michael Lewis, Chair

Originally from Belfast, Michael trained as a secondary school teacher at the University of York after completing a degree in Modern Languages at Oxford.

He taught for 35 years in comprehensive schools in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Oxfordshire and finally in Sheffield, where, between 1988 and 2008, he was the Headteacher of King Edward VII School, a large, diverse 11-18 school, drawing its students from across the city of Sheffield.

In 2008 Michael was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Sheffield. He has lived in Sheffield since 1988.

Since retiring from teaching, he has been involved in mainly voluntary activities, including becoming Chair of Governors (2010-2013) of an inner-city primary school, a trustee of a small-scale medical research charity, a member of the Community Justice Panel and working as an Independent Custody Visitor.

He serves as a member of the Professional Conduct Panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency and is also a Lay Member for the Employment Tribunal service.

Michael is married with two adult sons. His personal interests include music, travel and sport.

Janet Wheatley MBE DL

Janet was born and educated in Sheffield and graduated from Warwick University with a BA Hons in History/ Sociology and a MA from Sheffield Hallam University in Sociology. She started her career working for the Department of Employment before spending a number of years working for an International Hotel Chain. She has also worked for a number of years in the NHS in a variety of management roles. She retired in 2019 after spending 16 years as Chief Executive of Voluntary Action Rotherham (VAR) an organisation supporting over 1400 Voluntary, Community groups, and 49,000+ volunteers in Rotherham

Her involvement with the Voluntary and Community Sector spans 30 years as a Chief Executive/ Volunteer and Trustee for a wide range of charities locally and nationally. She represented the voluntary and community sector on a number of Boards/ Strategic Advisory groups within Rotherham, regionally and nationally. She worked for NHS England as the Regional Learning Coordinator for Social Prescribing in the Yorkshire and Humber region and was a Lay Member and Chair of the Primary Care Committee for Rotherham Clinical Commissioning Group until September 2022. She is a Director of Spectrum Futures a Community Interest Company and Morthyng Limited a Registered Charity both based in Rotherham

Janet was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for South Yorkshire in 2016 – as part of this role she sits on numerous grant panels and also leads the work across the region assessing nominations for the Kings Award for Voluntary Service. She received a MBE for Services to the Community in Rotherham in 2017. She is married with 4 children and 2 grandchildren.

Mick Hood

For the last 20 years Mick has held several senior Human Resource positions working for companies such as British Steel, UES Steels, Corus, Tata and at present he is HR Director, Steel for Liberty House Group, a role he has held for the last three years.

Mick has experience in a number of non-executive roles including, a member of the Sheffield Hallam Business School advisory board, a member of the Stocksbridge Board for the submission of the Towns Fund Bid and a member of the MakeUK EMPOL Committee (advisory board to government policy and legislation change). Mick is also Chair of the Industry Advisory Board within the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), Sheffield Business School Advisory Board – Sheffield Hallam University and the Steel Valley Project.

Sheila Wright

Sheila has worked in senior executive leadership positions across South Yorkshire, Humberside and Nottinghamshire including the position of Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Operations for Nottinghamshire Probation Trust.

She is a Non-Executive Director of Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and a former Non-Executive Director and Vice Chair of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, providers of Mental Health, Forensic and Physical Healthcare.

Sheila is also the current Chair of Age UK Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and an Independent Member of the Parole Board of England and Wales. She is a mentor to Black and Minority ethnic university students and a member of a long established Community Group serving the African Caribbean population of South Yorkshire and surrounding Areas.

Professor Elizabeth Smart

Elizabeth is Head of the Law School at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. Previously Elizabeth was the Head of Law at Sheffield Hallam University and Senior Academic of BPP Law School, Leeds. Prior to this she worked at The University of Sheffield (1997-2003) as the LPC Director and taught criminal litigation and advanced criminal litigation together with all associated legal skills.

Elizabeth is currently a non executive director on the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority Board and previously has sat on the Quality Assurance Sub-Committee for the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority. She sits on the Office for Student Quality Investigations Committee and has served as a QAA assessor for policing degree apprenticeships. She has been as an External Examiner for Liverpool John Moores University, Huddersfield University and Anglia Ruskin University and is currently an External Examiner for the University of Law and BPP Law School. She carries out consultancy work for various police forces nationally training Active Defence principles and Courtroom Skills.