§ 27. Ian StewartTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps the Government take to ensure that people appointed to public bodies are representative of the society that they serve.[145863]
§ Mr. AlexanderThis Government want boards of public bodies to be representative of society as a whole. On 17 December, we published Delivering Diversity in Public Appointments 2003. This outlines the Government's commitment to achieving greater diversity in public appointments. It includes action plans for individual Departments, together with targets to be achieved by 2006.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will list vacancies for posts on public bodies which have been advertised since 2001, indicating in such case the number of(a) posts, (b) applicants, (c) persons interviewed and (d) appointments made.[145277]
§ Mr. AlexanderThis information is not held centrally. Individual departments are responsible for making appointments to their own public bodies.
The Government is committed to ensuring greater access to public appointments. A new public appointments vacancy web-site (www.publicappts-vacs.gov.uk) was launched by my Department on 27 March 2003. This provides information about current and forthcoming vacancies, helping people to find details of the appointments that are of most interest to them.