Speeches by Lamb.

“I am also asking whether there are parts of our existing framework that require greater embedding than is currently the case.”

“The question the Committee is delving into with a number of different regulators and advisers is whether there are sufficient constitutional safeguards against someone who is potentially elected to office, and whether we believe the constitution stands above whatever the Government of the day happens to be. The good ch…”

“The potential concern around the original appointments was over cronyism—of people getting jobs by virtue of who they knew rather than innate ability. They may well be very capable but have relationships with the Ministers appointing them to those roles. If we were several years down the line from this and still find t…”

“All those different aspects of the framework tend to be temporary rather than long-term appointments. If the Government are trying to transform the civil service overall by having a more fluid system in which the best talent can always be brought in and out, they are going to be looking for more permanent appointments.…”

“No. I listen to the excellent Institute for Government podcasts, and they recently had a conversation on the transformation of the civil service, around all these points. They highlighted a number of areas, and this was one of the main ones, and it was first highlighted as a problem, in terms of how the civil service o…”

“So the challenge is having someone to drive it through as opposed to having a particular problem in terms of the mechanisms.”

“I would certainly agree on the local government point. I was thinking the other day that, with a dozen local government chief executives, you could probably fix Whitehall fairly rapidly. If we are shifting to a system where there is going to be a greater move toward external hiring, how do you manage to ensure that the…”

“Do you think the business appointment rules might currently be deterring members of the private sector from moving into civil service roles? In particular, do you think restrictions might prevent them from taking on new roles in the private sector following their time in the public sector?”

“Turning to the issue of exceptions, when you came to the Committee last year, I asked you about several appointments into civil service roles that had been made by people who were connected to the Labour party, particularly Ministers. At the time you told us that the roles were temporary and an extension would be neede…”

“This package of measures will transform the lives of thousands of my constituents. On fleecehold, residents in Forge Wood are paying thousands of pounds for services that other constituents receive for free. Can the Minister confirm that he will act as quickly as possible following the end of the consultation?”

“We are aware of two people who are still in post from last year, one of whom is in a director general role. Would we have expected, by this point, that they would have come back to you for an extension, permanent approval, or gone out to open competition?”

“You would not usually have thought that a director general would be a temporary role. It is sufficiently senior in the civil service that you would have thought you would want someone in that role permanently.”

“You specify that they are very strict, and I suppose to a large extent they are, but there have been concerns expressed that the enforcement mechanisms are not currently sufficient. We can think of one particular example who seems to regularly violate the rules without particular consequence. Do you feel that changes a…”

“Exploring this theme, we have already had Prime Ministers who have dismissed advice they have been given and dismissed advisers. Would you believe that a Prime Minister of a Trump model would in any way concern themselves with any letter or advice that you provided them?”

“I can certainly see the benefit of marrying the two together. Is it another area where we are reliant on people being good chaps, in order to agree to follow the rules, where there may be one or two people who, by virtue of the money they might make doing something else, will not see the penalty as being particularly s…”

“Are there any other changes that you might make to the system, if you were able?”

“Theoretically, someone could move a person from a role on one project to another project without falling afoul of that, could they not?”

“Among other changes, the Government have committed to try to deliver a more agile state in terms of changing the civil service to enable greater recruitment externally. Have you discussed any potential changes to the hiring process to enable this?”

“Could you tell us what temporary might mean in this context? If it is a temporary appointment and you need a permanent role through open competition, how long would we expect someone to remain in one of these roles?”

“Roughly what proportion of exceptions are rejected by the commission?”