Stop ministers appointing to quangos, says watchdog

MINISTERS must be stripped of their right to appoint heads of public bodies so they can counter accusations of cronyism, Whitehall’s public appointments watchdog said yesterday.

Baroness Fritchie said ministers should be allowed to describe the qualities they want and even suggest names for interview. But the decision on who gets public posts should be taken out of the Government’s hands altogether.

Figures released earlier this year by Lady Fritchie showed Labour activists are more than three times as likely to be appointed to quangos than their Tory counterparts. She said 8.9 per cent of jobs under her jurisdiction in 2004- 2005 went to people who had actively supported Labour.

Only 2.5 per cent went to Tory activists, and 1.5 per cent to LibDems.

Polls show most people still believe that appointments to quangos are made on the basis of ‘who you know’, she said.

At present, ministers are generally presented with three names from an interview process and are free to choose their preferred candidate. Lady Fritchie told the Commons Public Administration Committee yesterday that this process had led to problems.

She told the committee’s MPs, who are carrying out an inquiry into the relationship between ministers and civil servants: ‘ I would say that ministers should have a role in the process, but shouldn’t have a choice.

‘In one fell swoop, you would get over cronyism and it would be simpler.’

Lady Fritchie’s office monitors appointments to around 1,100 national and regional quangos in England and Wales, together responsible for spending billions of pounds of public money.