Source · Select Committees · Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Not Addressed
Encourage DCMS Ministers and officials to engage more constructively with Committee's parliamentary scrutiny.
Recommendation
We are disappointed by the Department’s engagement with the Committee prior to the pre-appointment hearing, and especially its failure to adhere to the Government’s own guidelines requiring that committees are provided with the necessary information at least seven working days to prepare for a hearing.29 The decision to provide the Committee with only four and a half working days to prepare, without explanation or apology, was compounded by the leaking of the Government’s preferred candidate and a subsequent announcement of changes to the licence fee and a review into the funding of the BBC less than a day later. We regret the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s approach to Parliamentary scrutiny and encourage Ministers and officials to engage more constructively with the Committee’s work from this point forward. 29 Cabinet Office (January 2019), Cabinet Office Guidance: pre-appointment scrutiny by House of Commons select committees para 20 10 Pre-appointment hearing for Chair of the BBC Board
Government Response Summary
The government responds by explaining that an extension was required to complete necessary steps before providing documentation for the pre-appointment hearing, but does not explicitly address the committee's encouragement for more constructive future engagement.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
In your letter of 12 December and in your report, you raised the Committee’s concerns about recent engagements with my department, both in the run up to the announcement of the Government’s preferred candidate for this role, and across other departmental business. I was very grateful for the extension that was granted by your Committee in this process, allowing the department to provide the required paperwork on 6 December, noting that this was subject to you and your Committee still agreeing to proceed once the papers had been received. I hope it is helpful to clarify that this extension was required in order to complete the necessary steps to provide a name to the Committee and to announce the Government's preferred candidate. This included notifying the successful and unsuccessful candidates and working through mitigations to conflicts of interest, which were included in the information provided to the Committee.