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Select committee: Transport Committee

Pre-appointment hearing on ORR inquiry

Closed Opened 5 Sep 2018 Closed 11 Mar 2019

Transport Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
As part of its scrutiny of the Department of Transport, the Transport Committee is invited to hold a pre-appointment hearing for the new Chair of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). These hearings are intended to increase scrutiny of important public appointments, and add legitimacy to appointments which are approved by the Committee. On 21 August 2018 the Government announced that its preferred candidate to replace Stephen Glaister as Chair of the ORR was Declan Collier, who most recently served as Chief Executive of London City Airport. The Committee will be meeting with Mr Collier on Monday 5 November, and reporting its verdict on his appointment shortly thereafter.

Where it stands

The inquiry is closed, opened 5 September 2018.

The committee has published 1 report, most recently 6th Report - Appointment of the Chair of the Office of Rail and Road on 7 November 2018.

The government's response

Published 17 January 2019.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government agrees with the Committee on diversity in recruitment, pre-appointment hearing criteria and interim appointments, but disagrees that the Committee should be able to extend hearings to other Secretary of State appointments.

  • On diversity, the government "agrees with this recommendation" and sets a target that by 2022 50% of public appointments should be held by women and 14% by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic appointees.
  • It agrees that the reasons an appointment is subject to a pre-appointment hearing should be set out, proposing criteria and stating that the Cabinet Office has been revising the pre-approved list of roles.
  • It disagrees that the Committee should be able to hold hearings beyond the criteria, saying this "could cause a disproportionate level of parliamentary involvement". It commits to updating the list of appointments subject to hearings annually.
  • On interim appointments, it agrees with "the principle" for roles on the Cabinet Office list and would "endeavour" to make a regular appointment within 12 months. It notes "some flexibility may be necessary". On including sector knowledge in the Chair's person specification, it will "consider" whether there is a case.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Reports

All reports

Evidence

  • 1 oral evidence sessionLatest 5 November 2018
All evidence

Recent activity

Reports

1 report

Oral evidence sessions

1 session

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Date Session and witnesses Source
5 Nov 2018
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗