The Committee firmly believes that a fair and open process for appointments to public bodies is important to the public’s perception of standards in public life.

The Committee has previously expressed concerns about the Government’s changes to the process for ministerial appointments to public bodies; an issue on which Lord Nolan first reported in 1995.

We note that the Commissioner for Public Appointments Peter Riddell, secured some important changes during his discussions with the Government, but we believe the new regime will require continued monitoring and review. Therefore we intend to maintain a close interest and look forward to hearing from the Commissioner at our meeting later this month.