were for a five-year term, and were through open competition. The commission met bi-monthly and dates were published on the IPCC website. Northern Ireland and Scotland The IPCC self-regulation scheme covered England and Wales; oversight of the police complaints system in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. In Scotland the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) reviews the way the police handle complaints from the public and also conducts independent investigation into the most serious incidents involving the police. Police Action Lawyers Group resignations In February 2008 over a hundred lawyers who specialise in handling police complaints resigned from its advisory body, citing various criticisms of the IPCC including a pattern of favouritism towards the police, indifference and rudeness towards complainants, and complaints being rejected in spite of apparently powerful evidence in their support. The IPCC responded to these criticisms with a letter to The Guardian in which the then IPCC Chair, Nick Hardwick, acknowledged some cases could have been handled differently in its infancy, but pointed out that despite repeated requests for the group to provide contemporary examples where expectations had not been met, there had been no further cases identified. It has been noted that "no policeman has ever been convicted of murder or manslaughter for a death following police contact, though there have been more than 400 such deaths in the past ten years alone.". Although a number of these were determined (by inquest juries) to be suicides, other cases such as that of Ian Tomlinson, were found by inquest juries to be unlawful killings. However, the jury in criminal proceedings acquitted the police officer accused of manslaughter in the Tomlinson case. There have been a number of police officers convicted of causing death by dangerous driving, including those responsible for the deaths of Hayley Adamson and Sandra Simpson. Parliamentary Inquiry 2012 On 27 June 2012 the Home Affairs Committee announced an inquiry into the IPCC including, but not limited to, analysis of the independence of the commission, the powers and responsibilities of the commission and the effectiveness of Commission investigations. The Committee began hearing evidence on 17 July 2012. The report was published on 29 January 2013 and was scathing, describing it as "woefully underequipped and hamstrung in achieving its original objectives. It has neither the powers nor the resources that it needs to get to the truth when the