Advisory Committee on Business Appointments - Report 2020-24 - 'The time to restore trust is now'
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA), that provides independent advice to former Ministers and the most senior servants on appointments they wish to take up on leaving government, has today published a report covering its work from 2020 - 2024.
In a foreword to the report, ACOBA's Chair, Lord Pickles, has repeated the Committee's call for urgent reform of the government's Business Appointments Rules and set out steps that could be taken immediately to strengthen the system, with or without further legislation.
The report contains information and statistics relating to applications and appointments taken up between 2020 - 2024 showing:
- The Committee advised on restrictions in all but one case in the reporting period
- The Committee advised on 416 applications from former ministers and 401 applications from senior Crown servants
- An increasing trend towards roles where there is overlap with official's responsibilities in office and in consulting work
Lord Pickles said:
"The smooth operation of this system is fundamental to ensuring government benefits from the interchange of skills and experience between the public, private and charitable sectors, while protecting the integrity of government. As Chair of ACOBA, I have overseen a programme of reform to strengthen ACOBA's approach within the framework set by the government. These reforms have increased transparency, improved risk assessment and ensured public letters are unambiguous but they can only go so far. The system is bust and needs fixing.
"There can be no credibility in a system that continues to have no demonstrable consequences or tangible deterrent for non-compliance and lacks a clear focus on the right things. The Committee is forced to expend considerable resources not only on cases where someone has been working at the heart of policy, regulatory or commercial decision-making that overlaps with their potential new role, but also on unpaid roles that have no relation to someone's time in office. Scarce public resources need to be directed to where the risks posed to the government's integrity are greatest.
"Improvements must include an enforceable system with options to meaningfully sanction individuals for egregious breaches. The system should operate on an exception basis - setting clear expectations up front for those in public office and encouraging a culture of proactive management of conflicts of interest.
"Some long overdue changes could be implemented in a matter of weeks without the need for legislation. This would demonstrate a willingness to get things moving immediately and make an unambiguous statement of intent for potential statutory measures. ACOBA stands ready to help the government and its officials take this opportunity to make impactful changes to the system."
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