Social Mobility Commission: Public Appointments

(asked on 11th July 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he telephoned Dame Martina Milburn to encourage her to apply to be Chair the Social Mobility Commission; how many other people he so encouraged; and what the names are of those people.


Answered by
Nadhim Zahawi Portrait
Nadhim Zahawi
This question was answered on 16th July 2018

The Governance Code on Public Appointments permits ministers and departments to contact potential applicants to encourage them to apply when advertising appointments, provided this is done fairly, openly and transparently. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and officials agreed a shortlist of 11 potential candidate to make aware of the opportunity available to be Chair of the Social Mobility Commission. Four people from this shortlist were telephoned by the Secretary of State, one of whom was Martina Milburn who was called on 16 March 2018.

It would not be appropriate to publicly share the names of the other individuals contacted by the Secretary of State as this is personal sensitive information that would identify those individuals without their consent.

The process to appoint a Chair of the Social Mobility Commission was run in accordance of advice from the Cabinet Office and the Department for Education’s Public Appointments team, and fully in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

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