Cronyism in appointments must be stamped out
Action must be taken to counter the perception that ‘cronyism’ plays a key part in senior public appointments.
That is the conclusion of the tenth report of the Committee for Standards in Public Life, which also calls for the body that regulates ministerial appointments – the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments – to be given far greater powers.
It recommends that the commissioner should be able to delay the recruitment process to allow a debate of parliament in cases where there has been a serious departure from the code of practice by Ministers.
Ministerial involvement rules should also be clarified so that while they play a “full and audited role” in the short-listing procedure, they should no longer have a final decision on the candidates.
And permanent secretaries should accept explicit responsibility for ensuring the propriety of the selection arrangements for public appointments within their department.
Many of the recommendations are based on procedures already in place in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, which the committee says it was “impressed” with.
Chair of the committee, Sir Alistair Graham, said: “While some improvements have been made in recent years, there are fundamental structural and organisational weaknesses in the existing frameworks. Both regulatory regimes need significant changes if they are to operate in a way which wins public trust and embeds an ethical culture into our public bodies.”
It also recommends a “radical reform” to the way allegations against councillors are dealt with, so that the most serious complaints receive the most attention and relatively minor issues can be dealt with at a local level.
Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, Oliver Heald, broadly welcomed the report.
Mr Heald, said: “This important report highlights the huge public concern about cronyism in public appointments. We welcome recommendations to strengthen the independence, professionalism and accountability of the appointments process. We also believe that for certain appointments we should be looking at the possibility of confirmation hearings by Select Committees.”
He added: “If we are to restore trust in the political process, we need to ensure the system is transparent and accountable rather than a charter for cronyism.”
