Recommendation 2

The Cabinet Office does not yet have the data it needs to oversee the appointments process effectively. Until April 2023, the Cabinet Office’s only method of collecting data about public appointments was a manual exercise, requesting data from departments once a year, in which errors and inconsistencies were common. Its new applicant tracking system, introduced in April 2023, should allow it to build up a picture of how each department is performing on appointments, including timeliness and causes of delay. It currently requires departments to use the new system for all regulated appointments. However, the Cabinet Office does not yet have the data it needs because not all government departments and ALBs are adding accurate data to the system or using the system as intended. For instance, some departments are still running the recruitment process outside of the new system or making errors when inputting data. The Cabinet Office does not currently track unregulated appointments so cannot say how many unregulated NEDs there are across government, how diverse they are, or how long they take to appoint. While it expects departments to use the new system in the future to track unregulated appointments, it does not currently require them to do so. Recommendation 2: In response to this report, the Cabinet Office should: a) confirm in the Treasury Minute that all regulated appointments are now being run through the new applicant tracking system and what steps it is taking where departments do not comply; 6 Non-executive appointments b) write to departments mandating that they use the new applicant tracking system for all unregulated appointments.