The work of the Inquiry is overseen by a sub-committee of trustees an cooptees, including:
Jane Steele (Chair and Trustee)
From January 2006, Head of Research and Evidence, General Teaching Council for England; previously Head of Public Interest Research, Office for Public Management.
James Doorley (Trustee)
Regional support officer for the Disability Federation of Ireland; formerly President of the National Youth Council of Ireland; Board member of the European Youth Forum; member of Macra Na Feirme National Rural Development Committee; Chairman of the Consumers' Association of Ireland.
Bhupendra Mistry (Trustee)
Specialist advisor on community cohesion, previously held senior positions in the field of regeneration and community development with a number of local, regional and national agencies. Current Board member of Harvest Housing Group and the Home Office Advisory Board – Futurebuilders, and Trustee of BBC World Service.
David Fraser (Trustee)
Consultant Physician, Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline; Past-Chairman Carnegie Dunfermline and Hero Fund Trusts; formerly Medical Director, Fife Acute Hospitals Trust.Fran Bennett (Cooptee)
Fran Bennett works half time as a senior research fellow at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford, teaching and doing research on social policy. Her current research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council as part of the Gender Equality Network, and involves investigating the implications of within household inequalities for fiscal policy, with colleagues from other academic institutions. In the other half of her time she is self-employed, working on poverty, income, gender and social security issues, often for pressure group, think tanks or foundations. She has had a particular association with Oxfam's UK Poverty Programme, in both an employed and self-employed capacity, including encouraging more focus on participatory practice and gender analysis in UK anti-poverty initiatives. She was secretary of the Commission on Poverty, Participation and Power, which produced a report on the barriers to participation for people with experience of poverty (Listen Hear). More recently, she was co-author (with Moraene Roberts, of ATD Fourth World) of a report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation giving an overview of participatory approaches to research and inquiry into poverty in the UK.Fran is also (with Prof Jonathan Bradshaw) non-government expert for the UK on the National Action Plan on Social Inclusion for the European Commission. She has been a member of two Commissions set up by the Fabian Society (on Taxation and Citizenship, and on Life Chances and Child Poverty), and is currently a member of the TUC's Commission on Vulnerable Employment. She is very involved with a local advice centre in East Oxford, and in addition has various regular commitments at national level.