Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 72
Increase public availability of information regarding Non-Executive Director roles and responsibilities
Recommendation
Given that non-executives in Government departments, unlike their private sector equivalents, operate in an advisory capacity only, the Committee does not believe that NEDs should have more formal accountability to Parliament. However, there should be more information in the public domain on their roles and responsibilities in Government in the interests of transparency and good governance. The Government Lead Non-Executive Annual Report and each department’s annual report and accounts are currently the primary route for transparency, with the former providing some, albeit limited, data on the diversity of board members and the frequency of and attendance at meetings. At present, these documents are published too infrequently to provide meaningful transparency.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government acknowledges the committee's feedback and states it will consider whether the Corporate Governance Code would benefit from changes to improve transparency around NEDs' roles and responsibilities.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
72
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government · verbatim extract
Acknowledged
The Government is grateful to the Committee for its feedback and we will consider whether, taking into account the recommendations of the Committee, Lord Maude’s report and the Government’s response to the CSPL Standards Matter 2 report, the Code would benefit from changes in this area. In chapter two in this Report, we recommend that the Government publishes an updated Corporate Governance Code and terms of reference for each departmental board to provide greater transparency on the individual responsibilities of NEDs. In addition to this, we recommend routine publishing of board minutes on GOV.UK after each quarterly meeting, with a standing agenda item on the work of NEDs in departments.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗