Recommendation 21

We asked the Cabinet Office if it monitors and publishes a breakdown of the diversity of panel members, including gender and ethnicity details. The Cabinet Office said that it does not monitor the composition of Advisory Assessment Panels. It told us that Advisory Assessment Panels are dealt with within each department. However, it told us that there may be ways in which it could monitor panel composition more effectively that it could take away to consider.42 One of the ways it could do this would be to proactively provide feedback for unsuccessful candidates.43 The Cabinet Office undertook to review the feasibility and usefulness of compiling data on the diversity makeup of members of Advisory Assessment Panels, with a view to examining any diversity trends in the composition of those panels.44 We challenged the Cabinet Office on whether the process by which the minister appoints the panel, the panel produces a list of appointable candidates, and the Ministers then selects from that list is an insular and circular process. The Cabinet Office responded that it could see how it could appear this way.45 Outreach activities