Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government which chairs of public bodies listed in a Public Appointments Order in Council are elected by their trustees; whether they have issued guidance on whether it is appropriate for such chairs to serve as the organisational representative on assessment advisory panels; and what steps are taken to prevent potential conflicts of interest where they do.

Regulated public appointments to bodies listed in Schedule 1 of the Public Appointments Order in Council follow the recruitment processes set out in the Governance Code on Public Appointments. In the majority of cases, Chairs to such bodies are recruited through open and fair competition.

There is a small group of eight museum and gallery bodies listed within Schedule 1 which do not undertake a recruitment for the role of the body’s Chair. Instead, the role of Chair is an elected position by, and from within, the existing trustees of the body (which are themselves recruited through open and fair competition). These bodies are: the British Museum; the Imperial War Museum; the National Gallery; the National Portrait Gallery; the Natural History Museum; the Royal Museums Greenwich; the Tate; and the Wallace Collection.

The Governance Code, issued by the Cabinet Office, sets out guidance on the composition of Advisory Assessment Panels, including representation from the public body concerned and considerations of potential conflicts of interest. Additionally, for the bodies just mentioned, the published list of significant appointments requires that a Senior Independent Panel Member sit on the Advisory Assessment Panels for all trustee recruitments, on the presumption that any appointed trustee might be elected to the role of Chair. Ministers must agree on the composition of all Panels.