Ports, Prize Courts and the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, appeals against schemes of the Church Commissioners and appeals under certain Acts of Parliament (e.g., the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975). The Crown-in-Council was formerly the supreme appellate court for the entire British Empire, but a number of Commonwealth countries have now abolished the right to such appeals. The Judicial Committee continues to hear appeals from several Commonwealth countries, from British Overseas Territories, Sovereign Base Areas and Crown Dependencies. The Judicial Committee had direct jurisdiction in cases relating to the Scotland Act 1998, the Government of Wales Act 1998 and the Northern Ireland Act 1998, but this was transferred to the new UK Supreme Court in 2009. Scottish Universities Committee The Scottish Universities Committee considers proposed amendments to the statutes of Scotland's four ancient universities. Universities Committee The Universities Committee, which last met in 1995, considers petitions against statutes made by Oxford and Cambridge universities and their colleges. Other committees In addition to the standing committees, ad hoc committees are notionally set up to consider and report on petitions for royal charters of Incorporation and to approve changes to the bye-laws of bodies created by royal charter. Committees of privy counsellors are occasionally established to examine specific issues. Such committees are independent of the Privy Council Office and therefore do not report directly to the lord president of the council. Examples of such committees include: the Butler Committee – operation of the intelligence services in the runup to military intervention in Iraq the Chilcot Committee – for the Chilcot Inquiry on the use of intercept materials the Gibson Committee of enquiry set up in 2010 – to consider whether the UK security services were complicit in torture of detainees. Membership Composition The Sovereign, when acting on the Council's advice, is known as the King-in-Council or Queen-in-Council, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch. The members of the Council are collectively known as The Lords of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council (sometimes The Lords and others of ...). The chief officer of the body is the Lord President of the Council, who is the fourth-highest Great Officer of State, a Cabinet member and normally, either the Leader of the House of Lords or of the House of Commons. Another important official is the Clerk, whose signature is appended to all orders made in the