Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2021 to Question 79397 on Business Interests, whether he plans to complete work on improving the (a) scope and clarity of the Business Appointment Rules, (b) consistency and proportionality of the implementation of the Rules across Government and (c) enforcement of the Rules by the end of 2021.

The Cabinet Office is leading the programme of work to improve the Business Appointment Rules in collaboration with the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. The Prime Minister explained to the Liaison Committee on Wednesday 17 November that we are currently refining the rules and considering how to strengthen the process; an update will be provided before the Christmas parliamentary recess.

The Business Appointment Rules apply to all Ministers and civil servants, including special advisers, and it is incumbent upon everyone to abide by the decisions of the Committee, or the relevant Permanent Secretary in the cases of departmental-level applications. A number of sanctions already exist for breaches depending on the nature of the breach and consideration of further methods of enforcement of the Rules will be considered as part of the wider Business Appointment Rules improvement work. The Government will consider the particular circumstances of any breach reported to it by the Committee.