Health Board appointments “not in any way acceptable”
The man supposed to monitor the “ethics” of public appointments in Scotland has agreed that appointments to the Western Isles NHS Board were not “in any way acceptable” while pinning responsibility firmly on Ministers.
In a curious evidence session to Holyrood’s Public Audit Committee, Mr Ian Bruce, the Ethics Commissioner, appeared to agree with criticisms of the quango appointments system but repeatedly pointed to Ministerial responsibility.
While the hearing was specifically about NHS boards, it opened into wider issues surrounding quangos with Mr Bruce conceding: “I certainly would not say that it is always the same old faces, but you could argue that there is an element of that”.
He added: “Perhaps Ministers feel they are a safe pair of hands and the appropriate person for the role. My view is certainly that the whole process is set up to appoint people who meet the person specifications that are set by the Scottish Ministers”.
Mr Bruce continued: “Ultimately, the Scottish ministers are responsible for the appointments, but that responsibility is devolved to the chair of the selection panel, who is usually the (departmental) sponsor and senior civil servant”.
Committee chair, Richard Leonard MSP, then asked: “If the sponsorship team or the director general in a civil service department is in charge of the process, and if one of the roles of the appointees is to challenge the sponsor division as well as the public body, is there a danger that individuals who might be more challenging will not get through the process because the civil servants … will not want that?”.
Mr Bruce replied: “People are appointed to those boards in order that they can challenge the public body’s executive team as opposed to its sponsors, who sit, quite rightly, separately from it.
“I do not think that sufficient people who are not currently in the system are encouraged to apply, and I am not sure that the system is set up to appoint people who will be needed to deliver against … the public sector reform agenda. I think things need to be opened up to a much wider pool”.
Mr Leonard also asked: “I understand that, for a considerable period of time, the only member of the NHS Western Isles board who lived on the Western Isles was the chair. In fact, some of the non-executive members of that board had not even visited the Western Isles. There was a public outcry about that. How do you ensure that kind of situation does not arise?
Again, Mr Bruce replied: “It is up to the Minister, to be honest with you. I have said already that, if they wish to include a geographical criterion, it is open to them to do that”.
Mr Leonard: “A situation like the one I have just described does not seem to me to be in any way acceptable”.
Mr Bruce responded: “You are entirely right, and that is why I have said that it is so important, when ministers are planning for succession, that they look at the current board’s composition”.