SFO director to be new IPSA boss overseeing MP expenses

Ruth Evans, a director of the Serious Fraud Office, has been named as the new chair of IPSA, which sets MPs' pay and expenses and investigates abuses.

If approved by MPs, she will succeed current chair Sir Ian Kennedy in the role for a five-year term.

A former chief executive of the National Consumer Council, Ms Evans has held a number of non-executive roles.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority was set up in 2010 in the wake of the MP expenses scandal.

Since it was set up the watchdog has faced some criticism from MPs for the way it interprets the new, stricter expenses rules, while its decision to award MPs a 10% pay rise last year was attacked across the political spectrum.

There were 29 applications, with four candidates shortlisted. The interview panel chose Ms Evans, with Speaker John Bercow and the Speaker's Committee agreeing to put her forward to the House of Commons to approve.

Ms Evans has been a non-executive director of the SFO since January 2015. Prior to that, she was chair of the Bar Standards Board and deputy chair of Ofcom's Consumer Panel. She has also sat on the boards of the General Medical Council, the National Audit Office and the Independent Police Complaints Commission.