Professor Ian Kennedy (left) chair, is a leading expert on medical law and ethics. Crucially, he is not a doctor but is widely respected by the medical establishment. He has sat on several government advisory groups looking at AIDS, xenotransplantation and quarantine, and is professor of health law, ethics and policy at University College, London.

Professor Sir Brian Jarman is the only medically qualified member of the panel. He is probably best known for the Jarman index of deprivation used in primary care. Sir Brian is an emeritus professor at Imperial College, works as a locum GP in inner London and serves on the government's standing medical advisory committee.

Rebecca Howard is executive director of nursing at Manchester Children's Hospitals trust, with more than 20 years' NHS experience in nursing sick children. Her special interest is paediatric intensive care.

Family policy expert Mavis Maclean is senior research fellow at the centre for socio-legal studies at Wolfson College, Oxford. She has researched and written about compensation for accident victims, and is an academic adviser to the Lord Chancellor's Department.