Civil Service Compensation Scheme/Work of the Cabinet Office - Public Administration Committee Contents


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.





 
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