6th Report - Appointment of the Chair of the Office of Rail and Road

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