King of the quangos prepares for power

Public appointments chief aims to simplify system. Nicholas Timmins reports

Sir Len Peach, the first Commissioner for Public Appointments with responsibility for 9,000 jobs in 1,000 public bodies, took office a week before Christmas. By the end of the month he hopes to produce the draft of new guidance on how public appointments should be handled, a process he will monitor, regulate and approve while ministers remain responsible for the appointments.

His remit could cover up to 2,000 appointments a year in organisations ranging from NHS trusts to the Medical and five other research councils, the Housing Corporation, English Heritage and the higher and further education funding councils. Between them, they spend around pounds 40bn of public money. The need, he says, as defined by the recommendation of the Nolan committee, is to "reinforce public confidence in holders of public office".

His office is dominated by three themes - transparency, balance, and merit - but also by the need to ensure that the costs of making appointments in a more open and accountable way do not outweigh the benefits or discourage applicants.

To that, he adds his own agenda of making the appointments system "less sluggish and more efficient". It is a desire born of a wide experience of both the private and public sectors that has included 30 years with IBM, much of them as director of personnel and corporate affairs, to becoming the first chief executive of the NHS in 1986 and sitting on a host of government and private sector boards since, the most recent of which has been as chairman of the embattled Police Complaints Authority since 1992.

The job follows on the widespread perception that after 16 years of Tory rule, appointments have become politically biased and unbalanced, with the new class of "quangocrats" dominated by white, professional, male, middle-aged businessmen or company directors.

The verdict of Lord Nolan's committee on standards in public life on this matter might be summed up as "not proven", while finding sufficient grounds for concern to recommend Sir Len's appointment. Part of Nolan's difficulty in reaching a conclusion was the lack of information. No central register exists of those appointed. Until now, no political affiliations have had to be declared.

People were found holding four, five or even more posts across various forms of quango from the ministerially appointed "non-departmental executive bodies" for which Sir Len is responsible to more arm's-length public entities such as Training Education Councils, universities and urban development corporations, whose work Sir Len does not cover.

Much of this, Sir Len has been put there to change. Political activity (though not party membership) over the past five years will be recorded. Government departments and Sir Len will publish annual reports on appointments and the operation of the system.

"There is," he said, "an advantage in some people doing several jobs. There is an inter-relationship between some of the quangos. But if people are holding two jobs in non- departmental executive bodies and five jobs elsewhere, my concern is 'do they have the time to do the two'?"

Appointments had to be made on merit, he said. And amid charges that quangos have become dominated by "the cult of the businessman", he acknowledges the need for balance. "We have been through a phase where there has, quite rightly, been an emphasis on effectiveness and efficiency. Now it is important to make sure that we get the balance right."

His own record here is encouraging. The Police Complaints Authority is composed of nine men and five women, with three members from the ethnic minorities - a make-up that at least reflects the fact that 18 per cent of complaints come from the ethnic minorities despite them making up only 5 per cent of the population.

But cost may prove a limiting factor on how transparent the new system will become. Some MPs and academics would like to see a central database, as opposed to a clutch of annual reports, which the public could check. "If it is to be done, then there will have to be sufficient money to actually to do it". As yet, there is not.