APPENDIX 5
Memorandum from Margaret Exley, HM Treasury
1. The Committee has asked for information
about my role and responsibilities as the non-executive member
of Treasury's Management Board (TMB).
TMB'S FUNCTION
2. Apart from me, the members of TMB are
the Treasury's Permanent Secretary, Sir Andrew Turnbull; its six
Managing Directors; and the Chief Executive of the OGC, Peter
Gershon. Whilst there are no formal restrictions on its remit,
in practice its main focus since my appointment in May 1999 has
been on issues to do with the day to day management of the Treasury.
These have included its successful progress towards accreditation
as an Investor in People; the PFI project to renovate its headquarters
building; and the way it attracts, retains, develops and manages
the performance of staff.
3. TMB has touched on matters of external
policy relatively infrequently: advice on those questions generally
goes direct to Ministers from the relevant part of the Department.
Where TMB has touched on policy it has generally been either to
ensure that its development is properly organised and resourced;
or to consider emerging issues which ought to be brought to Ministers'
attention.
MY ROLE
4. My role is to provide input to TMB on
all managerial questions drawing on my experience as a managing
partner of a professional services firm, an expert in change management
and employee communications in the public and private sectors
and as someone who has founded and grown their own business.
5. I do not make an input to those TMB discussions
which are purely policy-related. As part of my terms of appointment
it was agreed that where particularly sensitive subjects arose
I would withdraw from the meeting. So far this has not proved
necessary. I also do not attend meetings which deal primarily
with detailed personnel issues where I could not add value, such
as reports on, or promotion of, individual members of staff of
whom I have no experience.
6. TMB generally meets fortnightly. Aside
from attending its meetings, and seeing correspondence circulated
to board members, I have little day to day contact although I
have had a number of "familiarisation" meetings to understand
better the day to day workings of the Treasury.
7. As Andrew Turnbull noted in his oral
evidence to you, my role is not the same as that of a non-executive
director of a public company because the patterns of accountability
are different. In a company, a non-executive has an important
role to represent the interests of the shareholder on the Board.
TMB's focus is purely managerial, and therefore is more akin to
the executive management team of a PLC rather than to the main
board.
20 June 2000
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