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Parliament to have greater role in appointments process for key public sector posts

Sixty key public sector appointments will now be subject to increased scrutiny by Parliament, the Government has announced.

In July 2007 the Governance of Britain Green Paper set out the Government’s programme of constitutional renewal. This included a commitment to increase democratic scrutiny of public appointments.

Now, in response to the Liaison’s Committee report “Pre-appointment Hearings by Select Committees”, the Government has re-affirmed this commitment. Following consultation with the committee, the Government has published a list of key posts which will be subject to pre-appointment hearings by Parliamentary select committees.

These include posts which play a key role in protecting the public’s rights and interests and where the post-holder needs to show professional independence from Government. Hearings will also be held for posts that play a key role in the appointments process itself.

Among the key posts that will undergo pre-appointment parliamentary scrutiny for the first time are:

• HM Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills
• HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary
• HM Chief Inspector of Prisons
• Health Service Commissioner for England
• Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life
• Chair of the Food Standards Agency
• Chairs of the utility regulators
• The Information Commissioner

The process will involve Parliamentary select committees taking evidence from the Government’s candidates for key positions before they are appointed. In line with the Government’s commitment to increasing openness and transparency, these hearings will be held in public and reports of the hearings will be published in full.

Minister for the Cabinet Office Ed Miliband welcomed this increased level of Parliamentary scrutiny and said:

“Pre­appointment hearings by select committees are part of the Government’s desire to make the executive more accountable to Parliament. Regulators, Ombudsmen and other public bodies exercise significant power over people’s lives and it is right that the appointment of these powerful posts should be subject to scrutiny by Parliament. I hope that hearings for appointments to the sixty key posts will help ensure a high standard of accountability and service to the public.”