Select committee: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 18
Fourth Report - Propriety of Governance in Light of Greensill
Published 2 Dec 2022
Paragraph 81
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Propriety of governance in light of Greensill All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Following the resignation of Rt. Hon. Suella Braverman MP as Home Secretary for leaking restricted material and her subsequent reappointment only a few days later, the Government has said the new Independent Adviser will not investigate matters surrounding her resignation as they took place under the previous Prime Minister. Determining what a new Independent Adviser can or cannot investigate would appear to call into question whether the apparent authority of the Independent Adviser to initiate their own inquiries, which we discuss in this chapter, is as extensive as it appears. It would also suggest that the inquiry into allegations of racism made by former Transport Minister Nusrat Ghani MP against a ministerial colleague that Lord Geidt had not completed when he resigned also will not be concluded as it too took place under a different Prime Minister. This situation is unsatisfactory. Primary legislation should be introduced at the earliest opportunity to establish the Independent Adviser as a statutory position to end the uncertainty about whether future appointments will be made at all. This should not, however, delay the appointment. We expect the new Independent Adviser to retain the greater powers and that they will complete any legacy inquiries they inherit.
From: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Fourth Report - Propriety of Governance in Light of Greensill (HC 888), paragraph 81, 2 December 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 21 July 2023 (deadline 18 July 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government accepts that the Business Appointment Rules need reform and is implementing a number of recommended changes on public appointments and transparency, while declining to place ethics bodies on a statutory footing.
- On the Business Appointment Rules, it will include more restrictions on future employment in Civil Service contracts and develop a 'ministerial deed' for ministers, but considers automatic and lengthy bans "overly broad".
- On public appointments, ministers appointing a candidate not deemed appointable must write to the relevant Select Committee and appear if requested by its Chair; departments will publish direct ministerial appointments annually.
- On transparency, the Government will "look to move" departmental publications from quarterly to monthly after the new platform is deployed, and "accepts in principle" that the lobbyist Register should mirror departmental returns, subject to assessing the impact first.
- It does not believe the Independent Adviser, the Commissioner for Public Appointments or ACoBA should be established in primary legislation, and will allow the reform package to take effect before "any further consideration of statutory change, in the next Parliament".