Pre-appointment hearings
This Commons Library briefing paper outlines the role that select committees play in assessing the suitability of the Government’s favoured candidates for a number of public appointments. It sets out the guidance for their operation before summarising key hearings of interest, where a committee has raised doubts about the suitability of a candidate. It also includes information about the introduction of the present system of pre-appointment hearings and highlights research about their effectiveness.
Since June 2008 House of Commons select committees have routinely held pre-appointment hearings for a number of public appointments. The current system of pre-appointment hearings was introduced in 2008 as part of the Governance of Britain reforms led by the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
This Commons Library briefing paper outlines the role that select committees play in assessing the suitability of the Government’s favoured candidates for a number of public appointments. It sets out the guidance for their operation before summarising key hearings of interest, where a committee has raised doubts about the suitability of a candidate.
258 hearings have taken place between the establishment of pre-appointment hearings in July 2007 and the end of the 2019-24 Parliament. Of these, there were eight occasions where a committee made a negative assessment of the Government’s preferred candidate. For five of these, the appointment went ahead in any case. In one case, the appointment did not go ahead. In another, the candidate withdrew from the appointment process after a negative report was issued by the select committee (Chair of Monitor). There have also been situations where committees have had an impact on an appointment without producing a negative assessment of a candidate.
There have been some calls for changes to the pre-appointment hearings process, including suggestions that there should be greater parliamentary involvement in a small number of appointments. Reviews of pre-appointment hearings and research about their effectiveness, by House of Commons committees and other organisations, are included in Section 4.
A list of posts subject to pre-appointment scrutiny can be found on the Cabinet Office website. The House of Commons scrutinises appointments to UK-wide organisations or to those with responsibility for England. Some posts appointed by Ministers in devolved administrations are subject to pre-appointment scrutiny by the devolved legislatures. There are no coordinated lists of those posts.
For background information, international comparisons and a detailed discussion of the issues raised during the introduction of pre-appointment hearings, see the Library research briefing Parliamentary Involvement in Public Appointments.
A list of pre-appointment hearings held by the UK Parliament, together with candidates and links to the relevant select committee report, is published alongside this research briefing.