5 Public appointments
44. Public appointments are made when people are
recruited to public bodies as members of committees or to sit
on the board. Who they are and how they are chosen form an important
part of the accountability of arm's-length Government. Getting
it right is key to efficiency, effectiveness and strong relationships
between Government and public bodies. The Commissioner for Public
Appointments, Sir David Normington, regulates the processes by
which Ministers make appointments to the boards of some, but not
all, national and regional public bodies in England and Wales.
Supported by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments,
his duties include monitoring compliance with the appointments
Code of Practice, investigating complaints about appointment processes,
and promoting equal opportunities and diversity in public appointments
procedures.[130]
45. While most public appointments are successful,
we heard complaints about delays and difficulties in finding suitable
people, and inadequate pay, though many positions are unpaid.[131]
The prospect of reputational risk, in particular when appearing
before a select committee, is also off-putting for some.[132]
Roles and responsibilities
46. The Prime Minister, Minister for the Cabinet
Office and other Ministers play a role in many public appointments.
The extent and nature of the roles they play is unclear as evidence
from the Cabinet Office simply states that a number of public
appointments are made by the Prime Minister and Minister for the
Cabinet Office.[133]
A small secretariat based in the Cabinet Office works on public
appointments. The Cabinet Office Appointments Section, headed
by Director General Sue Gray, "oversees the provision of
advice to all government departments on standards and ethics issues,
corporate governance in public bodies, and makes and manages public
appointments," the think tank Policy Exchange reports.[134]
Nick Hurd MP told us the Cabinet Office's role was "making
sure the recruitment processes across the system are robust."[135]
47. The Minister for the Cabinet Office plays a role
insofar as he is responsible for the Centre for Public Appointments,
a team in the Cabinet Office which supports departments with public
appointments procedures.[136]
However no role for the Minister for the Cabinet Office is mentioned
in either the Cabinet Office's own guidance to departments on
making and managing public appointments (2006), or in the Commissioner
for Public Appointments' Code of Practice (2012). The NHS Appointments
Commission, which supported public appointments procedures in
the Department of Health and other government departments, was
abolished in 2012. In 2011 we recommended that the Government
take steps to retain, as far as possible, the considerable expertise
the Commission had built up.[137]
The Government did not cover this point in its response to our
Report.[138]
Regulation
48. The Commissioner for Public Appointments oversees
the appointments process for some public appointments, such as
the Chair of Ofsted, but not others, such as the Chair of the
Public Works Loans Board. There is no apparent consistency to
which appointments are or are not regulated, as no explanation
was given in Cabinet Office written evidence in response to our
direct question on this.[139]
Tony Caplin was appointed to the post of Chair of the Public Works
Loan Board in July 2013 by The Queen, on the recommendation of
HM Treasury officials, and on the basis that he was the longest-serving
commissioner on the Board.[140]
In April 2014 it was reported that he had resigned his post when
it was revealed that he had been made bankrupt in 2012. He did
not inform the Cabinet Office of his bankruptcy the previous year,
as he was required to do. Mr Caplin's appointment was not regulated
by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and was not subject
to a pre-appointment hearing which might have discovered his bankruptcy
and prevented the appointment of an unsuitable person.[141]
Reappointment procedures
49. Public appointees sometimes serve only one term.
If reappointed, they continue in their role for a second or subsequent
term. We have previously reported on weaknesses and inconsistencies
in departmental approaches to the appraisal of public appointments,
and some people not being appraised before reappointment.[142]
The procedures for these reappointments have recently undergone
a major change. From an assumption of reappointment, the Government
has moved to an assumption that public appointees will not be
reappointed, with no explanation beyond what our questioning was
able to elicit.[143]
50. Sally Morgan, former Chair of Ofsted, criticised
the accountability of reappointment procedures for people who
have served their first term as a public appointee. She told us
that she was clear on how she was appointed: a public process
overseen by David Normington, with an application, pre-interview,
panel interview and resulting shortlist for the Secretary of State
for Education:
But then the decision not to reappoint appears
just to be taken by a Minister without any public oversight at
all.[144]
Diversity
51. The people selected to fill public appointments
are unrepresentative of the wider population. The Commissioner
of Public Appointments has a remit for promoting diversity in
the procedures for public appointments. Of all the people appointed
or reappointed to public bodies in 2012-13, 36% were women, 5.5%
were from black or ethnic minority backgrounds, and 5.3% had disabilities.[145]
Most were aged 46 to 65 (75%), with only 1.6% aged 35 or under.[146]
The Government aspires to 50% of new public appointees being women
by the end of this Parliament.[147]
Nick Hurd MP told us there has been some progress on gender, but
the overall trend is downward in the proportion of women being
appointed since statistics started being collected in 2001-02.[148]
In September 2014 the Government published a Talent Action Plan
for Civil Servants, but not the public servants who work in public
bodies, to encourage better gender balance and diversity.[149]
Actions the Government is taking to increase the diversity of
public appointees include increasing awareness of appointments,
holding events and suggesting improvements to the language in
job specifications.[150]
The Government's Action Plan contains one line about what it is
doing to proactively approach potential candidates:
The [Centre for Public Appointments] is encouraging
applications from candidates by contacting potential candidates
about suitable opportunities.[151]
52. Nick Hurd MP argued to us that an end to the
presumption of reappointment will bring greater diversity.[152]
He did not offer any evidence to back this assertion. Some feel
that, since the disbanding of the NHS Appointments Commission
in 2010, there has been a gap in identifying and encouraging high
quality applicants from across the community to apply for non-departmental
public body board positions.[153]
In 2011 Sir David Normington told us that "Government departments
are almost discouraged from taking responsibility for themselves
for improving public appointments and getting the best outcomes".[154]
We have previously expressed our concern that the quality, range
and diversity of candidates applying for senior public appointments
may be adversely affected by the imposition of pay caps.[155]
53. Public appointments are not sufficiently transparent,
representative, or accountable. Encouraging good people to apply
is a challenge, which is alarming given the central importance
of appointments to the effectiveness and accountability of public
bodies. The recent policy change, from an assumption of reappointment
to an assumption of non-reappointment, is a major one which has
been little discussed, and which potentially politicises appointments.
The Government's new position could reduce the willingness of
people to apply for tough appointments as they may feel they will
not have the time needed to see reforms through, especially if
there is a change in Government during their term.
54. The Cabinet Office, which publishes a list
of regulated public appointments, should also publish a list of
unregulated public appointments and set out the rationale by which
some appointments are regulated and some are not. In the interests
of transparency the Cabinet Office should ensure that the sponsoring
department clarifies who is involved in a public appointment,
at what stage, and whether they advise or decide. This means publishing
new factual information in greater detail than is currently available,
including an explanation of the rationale for these arrangements.
55. The Cabinet Office should publish the reasons
for ending the presumption in favour of default reappointment
and review the wisdom of the new arrangement. To address the issues
raised by Sally Morgan, departments must make clear to appointees
at the outset whether their appointment is intended to be for
one or more than one term.
56. Organisations making public appointments must
take responsibility for seeking out able people from under-represented
backgrounds and groups, as well as making the application process
straightforward and fair. The Cabinet Office in turn should strengthen
its public appointments diversity plan, holding arm's-length bodies
to the same ambitious standards and firm steer as in the Civil
Service Talent Action Plan.
57. The Cabinet Office needs to demonstrate greater
internal consistency, stability and internal collaboration in
public appointments. Responsibility for public appointments policy
lies in its Propriety and Ethics Division, while responsibility
for the governance of public bodies lies in the Efficiency and
Reform Group. The Cabinet Office should bring together the role
of the Centre for Public Appointments and the Public Bodies Team,
to encourage a more coordinated and coherent policy in this area.
130 http://publicappointments.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ Back
131
Timothy Hornsby (QPB4), Q219 [Caroline Spelman MP], Fourteenth
Report of the Public Administration Select Committee, Public
Appointments: regulation, recruitment and pay, HC 1389, 2010-12 Back
132
Dr Muiris MacCarthaigh and Martin O'Halloran (QPB6) Back
133
Cabinet Office (QPB27) Back
134
Michael Pinto-Duschinsky and Lynne Middleton, Reforming Public Appointments,
Policy Exchange, December 2013 Back
135
Q437 Back
136
Cabinet Office (QPB27) Back
137
Public Administration Select Committee, Fourteenth Report of Session
2010-12, Public Appointments: regulation, recruitment and pay,
HC 1389 Back
138
Government Response to the Public Administration Select Committee's
Fourteenth Report of Session 2012-13, Public Appointments: regulation, recruitment and pay,
HC 18 Back
139
Cabinet Office (QPB27) Back
140
HM Treasury (QPB28) Back
141
The Commissioner For Public Appointments (QPB16) Back
142
Public Administration Select Committee, Fourteenth Report of Session
2010-12, Public Appointments: regulation, recruitment and pay,
HC 1389 Back
143
Qq413-416 [Nick Hurd MP] Back
144
Q387 Back
145
The Commissioner for Public Appointments, Annual report 2012-13,
October 2013 Back
146
As above Back
147
Cabinet Office (QPB14) Back
148
Q441 [Mr Hurd] and The Commissioner for Public Appointments, Annual report 2012-13,
October 2013 Back
149
Cabinet Office, Talent Action Plan: Removing the barriers to success,
September 2014 Back
150
Cabinet Office (QPB27) Back
151
Cabinet Office, Increasing diversity in public appointments, December
2013 Back
152
Q413 Back
153
Professor Skelcher, Dr Dommett and Dr Tonkiss (QPB13) Back
154
Q2, Public Administration Select Committee, Fourteenth Report
of Session 2010-12, Public Appointments: regulation, recruitment and pay,
HC 1389 Back
155
Public Administration Select Committee, Fourteenth Report of Session
2010-12, Public Appointments: regulation, recruitment and pay,
HC 1389
Back
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