8 Public appointments
47. We have looked at the overall system of public
appointments. In our 2011 Report Public appointments: regulation,
recruitment and pay we endorsed Sir David Normington's general
approach to reform of the system for public appointments, and
agreed with his overall aim to ensure appointment of the best
candidates from a strong and diverse field.[56]
We urged the Government to retain the expertise built up by the
Appointments Commission, which was abolished as part of the Government's
health reforms. We particularly welcomed Sir David's commitment
to broadening diversity in public appointments, and his ambition
to measure the progress made in facilitating appointments on merit
of talented individuals from as wide a range of backgrounds as
possible. We followed up on this in November 2014 in Who's
accountable? Relationships between Government and arm's-length
bodies.[57] In this
Report we concluded that public appointment procedures, including
reappointment procedures, remain obscure in many cases. We called
on the Government to list the unregulated public appointments
not overseen by Sir David, and to set out why some appointments
are regulated and the rest are not. We called for greater transparency,
recommending that the Government should clarify who is involved
in a public appointment, at what stage, and whether they advise
or decide. We were disappointed by the Government response, which
said the Government was satisfied there was clarity over regulated
public appointments, and did not agree to publish a list.[58]
We said the Cabinet Office should do more to increase diversity
among public appointees, holding arm's-length bodies to the same
ambitious standards and firm steer as in the Civil Service Talent
Action Plan, but the Government response did not undertake to
carry out any new work to improve diversity. Our successor Committee
will need to maintain pressure on the Government in this area.
56 Public Administration Select Committee, Fourteenth
Report of Session 2010-12, Public appointments: regulation, recruitment and pay,
HC 1389, October 2011 Back
57
Public Administration Select Committee, First Report of Session
2014-15, Who's accountable? Relationships between Government and arm's-length bodies,
HC 110, November 2014 Back
58
Public Administration Select Committee, Sixth Special Report of
Session 2014-15, Who's accountable? Relationships between Government and arm's-length bodies: Government Response to the Committee's First Report of Session 2014-15,
HC 1129, March 2015 Back
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