Richard Tilt

Sir Robin Richard Tilt (born 11 March 1944) is a British public servant. Formerly a prison governor, he served as Director General of Her Majesty's Prison Service (1996–99), Social Fund Commissioner (2000–09), Chairman of the Social Security Advisory Committee (2004–11) and Independent Chair of the Internet Watch Foundation (2012–17). He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 1999 Birthday Honours.^[1][2]

Education

Tilt was educated at the King's School, Worcester and the University of Nottingham.^[1]

Career

Prison Service

Tilt first worked within Her Majesty's Prison Service, as an Assistant Governor, in 1966.^[3] He served as Governor of HM Prison Bedford and HM Prison Gartree. Following the removal of Derek Lewis, Director General of the Prison Service, Tilt became acting Director General in October 1995, and was formally appointed Director General on 1 April 1996,^[4] retiring in 1999.

Tilt was a member of the Sentencing Advisory Panel from 1999 to 2002.^[2]

Tilt was a panelist at a conference of individuals involved within the Prison Services, meeting to discuss and vote on issues regarding the Chaucer Unit. The Chaucer unit was created in order to investigate the services of Kent for instances of corruption and serious misconduct, as a consequence of the so-called ATM scam within HM Prison Blantyre House.^[5]

Tilt gave evidence to the inquiry into the death of Ulster loyalist Billy Wright, regarding the validity of a decision to house imprisoned individuals of the Loyalist Volunteer Force and the Irish National Liberation Army together within HM Prison Maze, giving this evidence on 10 December 2008.^[6]

National Health Service and Social Security

He served as chairman of the following National Health Service trusts and authorities:^[2]

• Kettering General Hospital NHS Trust (1999–2000)
• Northamptonshire Health Authority (2000–02)
• Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health Authority (2002–06)

Appointed as Social Fund Commissioner for Great Britain and Northern Ireland in December 2000, Tilt served in this part-time post until 2009.^[2] He was also elected to chair the Social Security Advisory Committee in 2004, serving two terms, his second term ending on 31 March 2011.^[7]

In 2000, Sir Richard Tilt chaired a review (the Tilt Review) of security at the three high-security hospitals in England (Ashworth, Broadmoor and Rampton). The Tilt Review suggested increased security measures, and altogether made 86 recommendations, all of which were subsequently accepted by the government. Following a critique of the Tilt Review by Tim Exworthy and John Gunn in the British Journal of Psychiatry,^[8] Tilt published a response in June 2003.^[9]

Internet Watch Foundation

Tilt was appointed Independent Chair of the Internet Watch Foundation in January 2012.^[2]

His six-year term as chair ended at the end of December 2017.^[10]

Other responsibilities

He was governor of De Montfort University from 2001 to 2010.^[2]

References

1. "debretts peerage".
2. "Sir Richard Tilt". Family Online Safety Institute. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
3. The Lucy Faithfull Foundation. Patrons. The Lucy Faithfull Foundation. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
4. "UK Prisons boss to quit early". BBC News. 16 October 1998. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
5. T. Murtagh - Blantyre House Prison Affair: Lessons from a Modern-day Witch Hunt published by Waterside Press 24 May 2007, 200 pages, ISBN 1906534039 [Retrieved 2015-11-14]
6. "Billy Wright Inquiry, Day 125". 10 December 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2019. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
7. "Deep Sagar proposed as the next Social Security Advisory Committee Chair". gov.uk. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
8. Exworthy, Tim; Gunn, John (June 2003). "Taking another tilt at high secure hospitals". British Journal of Psychiatry. 182 (6): 469–471. doi:10.1192/bjp.182.6.469. PMID 12777334.
9. Tilt, Richard (June 2003). "High-security hospitals". British Journal of Psychiatry. 182 (6): 548. doi:10.1192/bjp.182.6.548. PMID 12777349.
10. "Internet Watch Foundation appoints Andrew Puddephatt as its Independent Chair". Internet Watch Foundation. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2019.

External links

• Report - Press Dispensary 19-10-2007