Examination of Witnesses (Question Numbers
100-102)
RT HON
FRANCIS MAUDE
MP AND RT
HON OLIVER
LETWIN MP
27 JULY 2010
Q100 Robert Halfon: Going back to
the businessmen you appoint to these boards, are they all from
FTSE companies or from some large multinationals?
Mr Maude: Well, they will not
all be businesspeople. We have said that a majority should be
from the commercial private sector, but I would expect there to
be people from civil society organisations and from public sector
backgrounds. The problem at the moment is that there are some
very good non-executives on the existing departmental boards,
they tend not to be all that senior, and to an extraordinary extent
they themselves come from a public sector background, so it is
a missed opportunity. It will be very varied and there will be
some definitely from FTSE 100-type backgrounds, but it will vary.
Q101 Chair: Well, thank you very
much for your full and frank answers. I have just got one other
question to ask you. Part of the remit of the Public Administration
Select Committee is statistics and the UK Statistics Authority
and the National Statistical Office, and I mentioned to you privately
that I would be raising this matter last night. I gather that
the Chairman of the UKSA has written to the Prime Minister some
time ago and he does not feel he has had a response. Would you
be able to give us an indication as to how his enquiry has been
dealt with?
Mr Maude: Well, we are responding
to the range of issues which Sir Michael raised with me as well
and I have since then had at least one meeting with Sir Michael
of a very constructive nature and there is a continuing dialogue,
but he raised a range of issues, some of which are immediate and
some of which are not, and the dialogue and discussion continues.
Q102 Chair: Will he be receiving
a comprehensive reply?
Mr Maude: Yes, definitely, absolutely.
In fact, there is one on its way to him at the moment. I wrote
to him last week about the one particular issue and we are dealing
with a number of other issues, including of course the issue of
the Census.
Chair: Thank you very much indeed, Minister
and Minister, we are most grateful to you. May I just also thank
Gurney's, on behalf of the Committee, for the long and distinguished
service that the company has given the House of Commons over a
great many years, not least taking transcripts of meetings of
committees like this, and we are very sad that you will no longer
be with us after this term. Thank you very much.
|