§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, and if so in what way, the provisions of the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies will ensure independent, transparent and effective scrutiny of future ministerial appointments to the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission, and the Equal Opportunities Commission; and, if they will not, what steps they will take to ensure such scrutiny. [HL6344]
§ Lord Macdonald of Tradeston:All government departments are required to follow the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments' Code of Practice when processing public appointments which fall within the Commissioner's remit, as these bodies do. The code will therefore be followed when appointments to these bodies are made. The code of practice is designed to ensure that the appointment process is fair, transparent and open and commands public confidence. The code is underpinned by the seven principles arising from the recommendations of the First Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. Appointment on merit is the overriding consideration in the appointments process and care must be taken at every stage not to discriminate on the grounds of gender, race, age, disability, religion, marital status, sexual orientation or community background. Independent scrutiny is a mandatory element in every competition and this underwrites the integrity of the competition process. Independent assessors should always be used at the selection stage, which deals with the identification and selection of 138WA candidates and may be involved in earlier stages of the process.