Conservative Party
(asked on 15th December 2016) - View Source
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many appointees to (a) executive non-departmental and (b) other public bodies declared political activity for the Conservative Party in each of the last five years.
Political activity of all public appointments is collected and published by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The statistical methodology has changed since 2014-15, and the figures are not directly comparative over the last five years.
Political affiliation as percentage of total number of public appointments:
Date | Conservative | Labour | Lib Dem | Other |
2011-12 | 1.8% | 10.2% | 0.6% | 0.5% |
2012-13 | 3.3% | 3% | 1% | 1.7% |
2013-14 | 1.5% | 2.3% | 0.4% | 0.7% |
2014-15 | 1.2% | 1.7% | 0.5% | 1.1% |
Political affiliation as percentage of those who answered the question on political activity:
Date | Conservative | Labour | Lib Dem | Other |
2015-16 | 6.2% | 5.0% | 2.2% | 1.7% |
NB. These figures are not comparative with the previous table: the rise is due to the different methodology.
Overall, 94% of appointees in 2015-16 declared no political activity. By contrast, the political activity declaration rates under the last Labour Government were 10.2% in 2008-09, 10.4% in 2007-08 and 15.8% in 2006-07.
Being involved in a political party is a healthy part of civic democracy, and those interested in politics are often the same people who will be interested in public service. Individuals are appointed on the basis of their skills and experience, not their party background.