The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Enhanced monitoring of public appointments

26/03/2002

The Scottish Executive has enhanced the monitoring of the public appointments process in response to an internal procedural audit to ensure that it is robust and effective, Andy Kerr said today.

The introduction of central co-ordination aims to guarantee consistency, openness and accountability and ensure every public appointee completes a political activity declaration. Departments will retain responsibility for appointments rounds - but central co-ordination will ensure the same procedures are followed in every appointment round.

Investigations by the Executive revealed that around 411 of public appointees out of 1095 had not filled in political activity declarations. The appointments process was not compromised as political activity is required for monitoring only - candidates are all judged against the key criteria for the post regardless of any previous political activity.

Mr Kerr also said that 56 out of 1095 appointees - five per cent - serve on more than one NDPB. Responding to Parliamentary PQs issued today, the Minister for Finance and Public Services said:

"The process for announcing appointments to public bodies was introduced across the UK Government as part of the Nolan reforms in 1996 and was revised in 2001. The Code published by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) requires all appointments to be announced in an appropriate way as described in the Code. It has been the responsibility of each Department of the Scottish Executive - previously each Department of the Scottish Office - to ensure compliance with the OCPA Code in relation to appointments made to NDPBs sponsored by that Department.

"In June 2001, the Executive announced the following plans for changes to the internal administration of the appointments process in the document " Public Bodies: Proposals for Change": " A central unit in the Executive will in future oversee most of the standard elements of the appointments process (such as issuing information packs, acknowledging applications, convening appointments panels) in respect of most of the bodies sponsored by the Executive. The aims will be to bring a greater consistency of approach, and to make the process smoother for applicants and more efficient by maximising economies of scale".

"The Executive also announced in January 2002 that in future the declared public activity of every member of every public body will be published in the Executive's annual report on public appointments.

"Detailed records of the procedure followed in the announcement of the thousands of appointments made since 1996 are not held centrally. However in preparation for the internal changes described above and the publication of comprehensive details of political activity, the Executive's Public Appointments Unit has recently audited the data on political activity of current members of NDPBs. They have discovered that in most cases the correct procedures have been followed. However I regret to say that they have discovered that in 411 individual cases the political activity declaration was not completed and so the correct procedure for announcing these appointments was not followed. We have contacted all the individuals concerned and virtually all of them have now submitted completed political activity declaration forms. Six declarations remain outstanding. One of these individuals has been out of the country for three months and the other five have been difficult to contact.

"I am extremely concerned that the correct procedure for announcing appointments was not followed by officials in every case and have raised this matter with the Permanent Secretary. He has in turn instructed the Heads of the Executive Departments to ensure that the correct procedures are followed in every respect in future. In addition the central Public Appointments Unit is being strengthened in line with the announcement referred to above. It will be given the task of ensuring compliance with the OCPA Code and in due course the Code published by the Scottish Commissioner for Public Appointments. This Executive is completely committed to ensuring that our procedures for making public appointments are transparent and fair and that people are appointed on merit.

"The collection of the missing political activity declaration forms does affect the aggregate information about the political activity of appointees serving on NDPBs sponsored by the Executive published in reply to a question by David McLetchie in November 2001 (S1W-18802). Until all the outstanding political activity declarations have been received, we are unable to provide final figures showing how many individuals currently in post have been politically active. Nonetheless I wish to be as open as possible on this matter and the following table provides the breakdown of political activity as at today's date:

* figures as at 26 March.

"I shall report further progress to Parliament at the end of April. I shall also provide then a list detailing the names of each individual who has been politically active and the body on which they serve."

Mr Kerr added:

"As at 1 December 2001, there were almost 1100 appointees serving on NDPBs sponsored by the Scottish Executive. At the same date 56 people were serving on more than one NDPB. 75 per cent of these 56 people had not declared any political activity in the five years prior to appointment. The appointments were made in compliance with the OCPA code. The table below shows the aggregate figures.

The Executive is introducing central co-ordination of the public appointments process. This will ensure consistency, openness and accountability across the whole Executive. Departments will still be responsible for the actual appointments, but all the applications will be co-ordinated centrally to ensure consistency of approach.

Political activity declaration forms are required to be completed by all applicants for membership of Public Bodies for monitoring purposes only. Political activity is not a factor in decisions about appointments. 8 current members of NDPBs have declined to complete political activity declarations, as they are currently entitled to do under the terms of the OCPA Code.

The number of appointees and the number of appointees who have declared political activity includes 35 local authority members of NHS Boards and one member who was appointed to the Scottish Ambulance Service Board ex officio in his capacity as Local Authority member nominated by COSLA. All 36 individuals are by definition politically active. Since 30 September 2001, each of the 32 Scottish local authorities has nominated an elected member to serve on its local NHS Board. They are appointed by Scottish Ministers ex officio in their capacity as elected council members.

The fact that 56 individuals are members of more than one NDPB is entirely consistent with the Commissioner for Public Appointments Code. It is for the Minister who makes each appointment to decide whether the person concerned has both the skills and experience and the time necessary to do the job. Details of the 56 individuals are available by calling the number at the end of this release.