Recommendation 25

We therefore asked the Department why it was taking so long to get boards up to the level they should be. It assured us that the delays had not been due to a lack of resources within its own appointments team but had been caused, in part, by factors outside its control. For example, non- executive posts on boards are unpaid, making it difficult to recruit, while the 2024 general election had had a really big impact.58 Process changes after the election, because the Secretary of State wanted to widen the pool of appointees to include people of different backgrounds, had also contributed to the delay.59