Supplementary letter from the Department
for Culture, Media and Sport
At the evidence session today you asked whether
Ministers had added any names to the shortlist for the BBC Chairmanship.
The Minister and I agreed to respond in writing as we made clear
at the meeting it would not have been appropriate to have given
an answer without clarification against the appointments procedure.
I am now in a position to give you that answer.
I can confirm that Ministers added one candidate
to the panel's recommended shortlist, and that this was not Sir
Michael Lyons. I can also confirm that the candidate whose name
was added by Ministers had applied in the usual way by the agreed
deadline, and was deemed by the selection panel to have met the
criteria to a high degree.
The Ministerial request to add a candidate to
the shortlist was agreed by the Independent Assessor and selection
panel, and the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments
was also informed.
In keeping with departmental practice, the shortlist
was submitted to Ministers for consideration. This is done because
the shortlist is seen to be a key part of a process for which
Ministers are ultimately responsible.
As you will appreciate, I am unable to go into
more detail about the individual for reasons of confidentiality,
but I can assure you that the process was scrutinised by the Independent
Assessor and fully documented for the audit trail.
I hope this addresses your question.
6 June 2007
| 
