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Committee recommends changes to ministerial decision-making process

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Summary

The report, 'Select Committees and Public Appointments’ (HC 1230), considers the experience of some three years of holding 'pre-appointment' hearings by select committees to examine the 'preferred candidate' for certain public appointments before that appointment is confirmed.

The Liaison Committee considers the experiment a success. However, they recommend a number of changes including that the list of posts to which the procedure applies be refined.

The Committee proposes a three tier list:

  • Posts in the first tier are those considered to be of sufficient constitutional significance as to require a process which is effectively a joint appointment by Government and the House of Commons.
  • Posts in the second tier are those which the Committee proposes should be subject to an enhanced and improved version of the current process, and which should be subject to an 'effective veto' by the House of Commons or its committees.
  • For posts in the third tier, pre-appointment hearings should be at the discretion of committees.

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Law-Making Explained

This is a House of Commons paper (HC 1230, 2010-12). It is a report from the Liaison Committee.

Find out more about House of Commons papers.

Further Reading

Find out about the Liaison Committee.

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