Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Deferred
Cabinet Office yet to outline a plan for improving transparency of appointment data.
Conclusion
We asked when the Cabinet Office will decide what information it will provide to Ministers, and to Parliament, in order to improve transparency of the appointment process. The Cabinet Office acknowledged that the system was not working perfectly yet and said that it would be introducing some enhancements.23 The Cabinet Office stated that it expected to outline a plan to Ministers on how the data should be used later this year, noting that the more confident it could be in the data the quicker it could look at how to share the data with the public and Parliament. It added that it hoped it would not be long before the data could be used to improve transparency and drive accountability.24
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will implement a refreshed approach to data and transparency in relation to public appointments from April 2025 and review the process and content of its report on public appointments to improve transparency and consider more frequent data publication.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
1. PAC conclusion: It is taking far too long to make non-executive director appointments. 1a. PAC recommendation: The Cabinet Office should use data from its new applicant tracking system (see below) to report publicly by September 2024 on appointment delays, identifying average length of time for appointments and at what stages delays are occurring. In addition to aggregate data, consideration should be given to providing information at the departmental level, in particular highlighting the best performers to help encourage the sharing of best practice. 1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: April 2025 1.2 The government agrees with the Committee that there should be greater transparency on how long the appointments process takes, particularly as the new digital platform is starting to provide more granular, real-time data. 1.3 The government will implement a refreshed approach to data and transparency in relation to public appointments from April 2025, in order to allow new ministers time to give appropriate consideration to the data that should be published. 1.4 The timing of the general election meant that the government was unable to report on activity in this area by the Committee’s original September 2024 deadline. The government will implement a refreshed approach to data and transparency in relation to public appointments from April 2025, in order to allow new ministers time to give appropriate consideration to the data that should be published. 1.5 Over this period the Cabinet Office will also review the process and content of its (currently annual) report on public appointments, in order both to improve transparency and to look at the practicality and mechanisms required for publishing such data on a more frequent basis. The Cabinet Office will consider what new data metrics it might be able to publish, in order to expand the information in the public domain on the timeliness of the appointments process and the performance of the system more widely, as more campaigns are successfully completed end-to-end through the digital system. This will include working closely with the Commissioner for Public Appointments (and the Welsh Government with regard to their appointment data) to look at the information he currently publishes in his annual report, taking into account the duties set out on him in the Public Appointments Order in Council and the Governance Code on Public Appointments, in order to avoid duplication of effort and confusion as to the source and validity of data.