25 February 2005
Ministers should relinquish their 'final say' powers over appointments to key public bodies to restore diminishing trust in the process, an influential committee has warned.
The committee on standards in public life said a change to the system – whereby ministers can veto senior appointment to non-government bodies – was necessary in the wake of an independent survey indicating the public believes cronyism is rife in the public sector.
The Mori study for public appointments commissioner Dame Rennie Fritchie found that just 20% of respondents had confidence in the system.
A 'major downfall in the process, in the eyes of the public, is the final selection by the minister who may or may not have been involved throughout the process', it said.
The survey also found that two-thirds of the public had no idea how the system of public appointments operates, despite a major overhaul following the Nolan Report in 1995.
Fritchie said: 'A great deal has changed since the Nolan rules were introduced, but this shows we need to do more.'
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