Who's accountable? Relationships between Government and arm's-length bodies - Public Administration Committee Contents


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


 
previous page contents next page


© Parliamentary copyright 2014
Prepared 10 November 2014