Recommendation 8

Until April 2023, the Cabinet Office’s only method of collecting data about public appointments was a manual exercise once a year, so it did not hold real-time data on delays. Departments were required to provide information about all those serving in post as regulated public appointments on March 31 of the given year. Departments would also provide data on recruitment campaigns undertaken during the previous year, including information about the candidates who applied, those shortlisted, those found appointable, and those appointed. It did not provide granular data about where and when delays took place. As the data were produced and processed manually by departments, errors and inconsistencies were common.14 6 C&AG’s Report, para 7 7 Q 59; C&AG’s Report, para 2.4 8 C&AG’s Report, para 2.6; The Commissioner for Public Appointments, Annual Report 2022–23 9 Q 65 10 Q 59; C&AG’s Report, para 2.6 11 Q 67 12 It should be noted that the latest figure of 146 days provided by witnesses (Q59) is unaudited. Furthermore, it is not clear how many appointments the figure of 146 days refers to, or when those appointments occurred. This report therefore uses the figure of 203 days throughout: this figure is an NAO calculated figure that relates to the latest complete financial year (2022–23) at the time of the Committee’s hearing on 18 March 2024. 13 Qq 59, 62 14 C&AG’s Report, paras 9, 2.3, 2.9 Non-executive appointments 11