Pre-appointment hearings
1. Pre-appointment hearings were a recommendation
in the Liaison's Committee's 2000 report Shifting the Balance
Sheet: Select Committees and the Executive.[1]
Although the idea was initially rejected by the Government, the
July 2007 Governance of Britain Green Paper contained a
proposal for select committee scrutiny of prospective appointments
in the following terms:
…the hearing would be non-binding, but in the
light of the report from the [relevant select] committee the Minister
would decide whether to proceed. The hearings would cover issues
such as the candidate's suitability for the role, his or her key
priorities, and the process used in selection…
2. Following a dialogue between the Liaison Committee
and the then Minister for the Cabinet Office, the Rt Hon Ed Miliband
MP, on the question of which posts were appropriate for pre-appointments
hearings and the processes for conducting them, a letter was
sent to the Chairman of the Liaison Committee, Rt Hon Alan Williams
MP, confirming the posts the Government proposed should be subject
to pre-appointment scrutiny, including the Chair of the Office
for Legal Complaints.[2]
3. On 10 October 2008 the Legal Services Board
selected Elizabeth France CBE as their preferred candidate for
Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC).[3]
The Chair of the OLC is the first of a number of significant appointments
within the remit of the Ministry of Justice that we will be scrutinize
in line with the Liaison Committee's interest in extending parliamentary
oversight and accountability of key public appointments.
4. We took oral evidence from Elizabeth France
on 21 October 2008. Her evidence is printed with this report.
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