Select committee: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 19
Fourth Report - Propriety of Governance in Light of Greensill
Published 2 Dec 2022
Paragraph 87
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)
Concerns about the process for appointing the Independent Adviser are longstanding. The independence and integrity of the postholder are fundamental to their ability to carry out the role. As with the other standards watchdogs, the power of the Prime Minister to appoint the Independent Adviser should be balanced with a robust and transparent appointment process that allows the candidate to demonstrate their qualities for the role rather than their name being ‘alighted upon’, as is currently the case. The Independent Adviser should be subject to the Commissioner for Public Appointments process applicable to Significant Appointments. In addition, in accordance with our recommendation in this report concerning revisions to that process, the Independent Adviser’s appointment should be subject to a pre-appointment hearing with the relevant Select Committee and should require its endorsement.
From: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Fourth Report - Propriety of Governance in Light of Greensill (HC 888), paragraph 87, 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".