DOCSLIB.ORG

House of Commons Governance Committee

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
House of Commons Governance Committee House of Commons Governance Committee House of Commons Governance Report Session 2014–15 Report, together with formal minutes relating to the report Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 16 December 2014 HC 692 Published on 17 December 2014 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 The House of Commons Governance Committee The House of Commons Governance Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to consider the governance of the House of Commons including the future allocation of the responsibilities for House services currently exercised by the Clerk of the House and Chief Executive. Membership Rt Hon Jack Straw MP (Labour, Blackburn) (Chair) Sir Oliver Heald MP (Conservative, North East Hertfordshire) Mr David Heath MP (Liberal Democrat, Somerton and Frome) Jesse Norman MP (Conservative, Hereford and South Herefordshire) Ian Paisley MP (Democratic Unionist, North Antrim) Jacob Rees-Mogg MP (Conservative, North East Somerset) Valerie Vaz MP (Labour, Walsall South) Mr Dave Watts MP (Labour, St Helens North) Publication This report is published on the Committee’s website at www.parliament.uk/governance-committee and by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. Evidence relating to this report is published on the Committee’s website. Committee staff The staff of the Committee are Mark Hutton (Clerk), Joanna Dodd (Second Clerk), Paul Dillon-Robinson (Clerk Adviser), Ed Potton (Clerk Adviser), Charlotte Simmonds (Clerk Adviser), Louise Glen (Senior Committee Assistant), Dr Michael Everett (Committee Assistant), and Liz Parratt (Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the House of Commons Governance Committee, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The Committee’s email address is [email protected] House of Commons Governance 1 Contents Report Page Summary 3 1 Introduction 5 Background 5 Approach to the inquiry 5 2 What is good governance? 8 Structures 9 People 11 Culture 11 3 How does the House match up? 13 The role of the Speaker 16 House of Commons Commission 17 Finance and Services Committee 20 Administration Committee 20 Liaison Committee 21 Management Board 22 The Clerk of the House 24 The 2014 recruitment process 25 The Clerk as Chief Executive 26 People 28 A Procedural Service? 29 Staff Development and Diversity 31 Culture 32 4 What challenges does the House face? 35 Political and constitutional change 36 Public Engagement 37 Efficient use of resources 39 Restoration and Renewal 40 Overall 42 5 Our proposals 44 In the longer term 45 Restoration and Renewal 49 6 A Modern Governance Structure 51 Actions to be taken now 51 The Deputy Speakers 51 House of Commons Commission 52 Members’ Estimate Committee 55 Management Board 56 Executive committee 56 The roles of Clerk and Chief Executive 57 Our proposals as a package 61 2 House of Commons Governance Delegations 62 People 62 Culture 63 7 Implementation 65 Timetable 65 The current appointment process 65 Transition and Timing 66 The House of Commons Commission 66 Member committees 66 The new Clerk of the House and Head of Service appointment process 67 The new Director General of the House of Commons appointment process 68 An implementation team 68 Costs 70 8 Conclusion 72 Conclusions and recommendations 73 Annex A–Draft Job Descriptions 79 Annex B–Draft instructions on amendment of the 1978 Act 81 Annex C–Draft Motion 84 Annex D–House Resources 85 Annex E–Organogram of proposed House governance structures 88 Annex F–Organogram of existing House governance structure 89 Formal Minutes 90 Witnesses 91 Published written evidence 94 House of Commons Governance 3 Summary In this report we set out a package of proposals which address the immediate problem of the appointment of a new Clerk of the House and include necessary reforms to the governance of the House. They will deliver: • A coherent management and strategic leadership structure in which the Member and official elements are properly integrated for the first time; • Clarity to the respective roles of Members and officials. Taken together our proposals provide an organisational framework which will enable the House to operate more effectively and efficiently and provide reinforcement to the development of a unified House service. Our proposals are: • The House of Commons Commission should have an additional explicit statutory responsibility: to set the strategic framework for the provision of services to the House, its Members and the public; • To support this enhanced role, and to reflect wider principles of good governance, its membership should be: The current ex officio members (Speaker (Chair), Leader of the House, Shadow Leader of the House); Four backbench members elected by the whole House and drawn one each from the three largest parties and the remaining Members; Two external members; Two official members; • The separate responsibilities of the Finance and Services Committee and the Administration Committee should be more clearly defined. Finance and Services should become a Finance Committee. The Administration Committee should have no more than 11 members; • The four backbench Members of the Commission should have portfolio responsibilities, allocated to them by the Commission. For two of them this would include chairing the new Finance and Administration Committees. The other two should take on key strategic priorities; 4 House of Commons Governance • The Clerk of the House should remain Head of the House service, appointed by Letters Patent, but should not also be titled Chief Executive; • A new post of Director General of the House of Commons should be created, reporting to the Clerk but with clearly delineated autonomous responsibilities for the delivery of services; • The Clerk and the Director General of the House of Commons should be the two official members of the Commission; • The Management Board should be replaced with an Executive Committee (in effect a sub-committee of the Commission) chaired by the Director General of the House of Commons and comprising in addition the Clerk, the Director of Finance and up to three other officials. Structural changes are not enough to reform how an organisation operates: we have made important recommendations about changes to the culture of the House and its service which will be necessary to deliver the reforms we look for. We were asked to report by 12 January, but to ensure that the House had as much time as possible to consider and act on our report before dissolution at the end of March, we set ourselves the tighter timetable of reporting by Christmas. We have set out a timetable for implementation which we believe is realistic and practicable, but will require support from across the House. The ‘paused’ recruitment process for Clerk of the House/Chief Executive should be formally terminated. We propose new recruitment processes for the Clerk of the House and the Director General of the House of Commons which are in line with modern recruitment practice. House of Commons Governance 5 1 Introduction Background 1. On 1 September 2014 the Speaker made a statement to the House announcing that he had ‘paused’ the process to appoint a Clerk of the House and Chief Executive to succeed Sir Robert Rogers. On 10 September 2014 the House agreed to the motion to appoint a committee to ‘consider the governance of the House of Commons, including the future allocation of the responsibilities currently exercised by the Clerk of the House and Chief Executive.’1 The motion included the appointment of the Chair of the committee; the remaining members were added on 16 October 2014.2 2. We discuss what lessons might be learnt from the ‘paused’ recruitment exercise later in this report (paragraph 63), but note at this point that the fact that the House service has been operating under temporary arrangements at the most senior levels has placed a premium on us reaching speedy and agreed conclusions. The resolution of 10 September 2014 required that we report by 12 January 2015. To ensure that the House has as much time as possible before dissolution at the end of March 2015 to consider our Report and make decisions on it, we set ourselves an even tighter timetable of publishing before the Christmas adjournment. We are glad that we have met this deadline. In this Report we have set out a package of proposals for reform of the principal governance structures of the House and the most senior official positions which we believe will significantly increase the House’s capacity to respond effectively and efficiently to the challenges of the future. We have not attempted to drill down into the structures below the Management Board level, but we have described an implementation procedure which should follow through on our high level changes. Approach to the inquiry 3. On 17 October 2014 the Chair published the following statement about how we intended to approach our task: We intend as far as possible to be transparent and open in our proceedings. We will take evidence in public and publish the transcripts on this website. We will publish submissions made to us in writing except where they have been submitted in confidence. We understand that some individuals and groups will prefer to talk to us in private. We are inviting anyone with an interest in this matter to send us their views … If you want your submission to be in confidence, please tell us. … 1 HC Deb, 10 September 2014, col 1014 2 HC Deb, 16 October 2014, col 554 6 House of Commons Governance We have to answer the specific question
Load more

Recommended publications
  • New Ministerial Team at the Department of Health
    New Ministerial Team at the Department of Health The Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP Secretary of State for Health Alan Johnson was first elected to Parliament in 1997 as the Member for Kingston upon Hull. A former postman, Alan Johnson served as a former General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and is one of the largest trade union names to have entered Parliament in recent decades. Often credited with the much coveted tag of being an "ordinary bloke", he is highly articulate and effective and is credited with the successful campaign that deterred the previous Conservative government from privatising the Post Office. Popular among his peers, Alan Johnson is generally regarded to be on the centre right of the Labour Party and is well regarded by the Labour leadership. As a union member of Labour's ruling NEC (up to 1996) he was seen as supportive of Tony Blair's attempts to modernise the Labour Party. He was the only senior union leader to back the abolition of Labour's clause IV. He becomes the first former union leader to become a cabinet minister in nearly 40 years when he is appointed to the Work and Pensions brief in 2004. After moving to Trade and Industry, he becomes Education and Skills Secretary in May 2006. After being tipped by many as the front-runner in the Labour deputy leadership contest of 2007, Alan Johnson was narrowly beaten by Harriet Harman. Commons Career PPS to Dawn Primarolo: as Financial Secretary, HM Treasury 1997-99, as Paymaster General, HM Treasury 1999; Department of Trade and Industry 1999-2003:
    [Show full text]
  • A LONG, STRANGE TRIP in the Late 1990S, Medical Journals Went Through a Period of Intense Navel Gazing
    Serial Neville Goodman A LONG, STRANGE TRIP In the late 1990s, medical journals went through a period of intense navel gazing. Evidence-based medicine was at its highest pitch, and conferences at BMA House started worrying about peer review. Lots of editors went along, plus a large number of hangers-on who got co-opted onto groups to look into this and that. I did well out of it all because I met Alec Logan, and the rest (as they say) is history. Which, as readers of this he had blown our cover but at least we Well, would you believe it, there was column will know, is a cliché — because would get good service, even if it cost us a Norman Gland himself, lying on the floor, clichés were dealt with in the 65th few prescriptions before we had finished. pink in the face and gasping like a fish. Dr column of which this is the 105th and And when the food came it was truly Brenda loosened his tie and collar while Dr last. delicious. We all pulled crackers and wore Teacher felt his pulse and Dr Grimes Oddly (not ‘ironically’: that might be the hats and read each other the jokes. inspected the contents of his glass. Then the word many would choose but During the main course (turkey with all Mr Gland found his voice: ‘I think there’s a readers will know that it is not irony the trimmings and pink sparkling wine), we Brussels sprout wedged in the bend of my because of columns 14 and 17), the very noticed quite a lot of noise coming from duodenum,’ he croaked, ‘I can feel it — first regular column was about how another long table at the far end.
    [Show full text]
  • Educating Lancashire … & Some Other Northerners
    Educating Lancashire … & Some Other Northerners The challenge and opportunities for a new Psychological Professions Network for the North West Jeremy Clarke Agenda Psychological therapists are a singular profession How policy drives change, or not, depends on the capacity for professional behavior also to change Whilst policy mechanisms for implementing the Coalition’s mental health priorities are still unclear; policy goals are now very clear & driven by welfare Partnership working in the New Savoy Partnership: What are the lessons for the new North West PP Network? How can a singular profession seek to embrace multiple disciplines at a time when the profession must also develop a greater capacity to fundamentally change itself!? Argument Since 2007 the psychological professions have undergone a radical albeit divisive transformation in the course of which the ‘scaffolding of a new evidence-based discipline has been erected’ and the vision of a new universal access service created What this change amounts to for our professions is not yet fully clear but by placing psychological therapies at the heart of a modern mental health and social care system, it represents the fulfillment of a vision of ‘care in the community’ that a previous generation of professionals, politicians, public and other stakeholders tried, and failed, to put in place Argument The primary task for the psychological professions, collectively, is to improve mental wellbeing, which may - or may not - turn out to be achievable by reducing the burden of mental
    [Show full text]
  • Politics Revision Guide Uk Government and Politics
    POLITICS REVISION GUIDE UK GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS Contents UK Politics Topic 1- Democracy and Participation • Key ideas in Politics o What is Politics? o What is power? o What is authority? • Forms and functions of democracy? • Development of the franchise • Participation • Is there a participation crisis? • Rights and Responsibilities • Is the UK a liberal democracy? • How do different groups vote? • Explaining voter choice • Election case studies Topic 2- Elections and Direct Democracy • Functions of elections • Elections in the UK • Types of electoral systems • Positives and negatives of different electoral systems • Referendums • Types of referendums • Should we use more referendums? Topic 3- Political Parties • Introduction and roles of political parties • Ideologies and Party Systems • Conservatives • Labour • Minor Parties • Ideological Convergence • Party Finance • Are parties still relevant? Topic 4- Pressure Groups • What are pressure groups? • Functions of pressure groups • Why are pressure groups important? • Why do people join pressure groups and why have they increased in number? • Classifying pressure groups • Pressure group methods • Direct Action • Factors influencing success • Pressure groups and pluralism • Are pressure groups good for democracy? Topic 5- The European Union • What is the EU? • Aims of the EU? • How has the UK seen the EU? • Key Institutions • Is there a democratic deficit? • EU Policy-making • The impact of the EU on UK politics UK Government Topic 1- The Constitution • Feature of the UK constitution
    [Show full text]
  • Better Government
    Better Government The current system of government in the UK is failing because it is fatally flawed. The system needs changing - regardless of the party in power - to prevent the UK from becoming a third-rate country.This paper deals with the structure of government not the ideologies of political parties. The current system of government is failing the nation Successive governments have increasingly taken responsibility away from civil society and local government, and centralised it in the hands of about 20 ministers. Compared with 1900, politicians have increased: - the share of national income they control from 12% to 40%;1 - the number of people they employ from 6% to 35% of the workforce;2 and - the number of pages of Acts and Regulations passed each year from 1,124 to 72,400.3 page Ministers now have impossible jobs.An objective appraisal of the performance of successive governments shows that ministers have failed: 2 - to provide good quality services at reasonable costs; 6 - to improve the quality of life of citizens; and 7 - to serve the poor and the disadvantaged. The fundamental causes of failure This failure, regardless of which party has been in power, is caused by fundamental flaws in the structure of government: 8 - government is a conglomerate of monopoly services managed by politicians and civil servants, who lack the necessary management experience and the subject knowledge; 11 - as a result they break the basic rules of management. 13 The centralisation of power and the failure of politicians to perform pose a very real threat to democracy.
    [Show full text]
  • View on Contactpoint Carried out by Secondary Schools
    Monday Volume 497 12 October 2009 No. 121 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Monday 12 October 2009 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2009 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/ Enquiries to the Office of Public Sector Information, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; e-mail: [email protected] HER MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT MEMBERS OF THE CABINET (FORMED BY THE RT.HON.GORDON BROWN,MP,JUNE 2007) PRIME MINISTER,FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY AND MINISTER FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE—The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, MP LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,LORD PRIVY SEAL AND MINISTER FOR WOMEN AND EQUALITY—The Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman, QC, MP FIRST SECRETARY OF STATE,SECRETARY OF STATE FOR BUSINESS,INNOVATION AND SKILLS AND LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL—The Rt. Hon. The Lord Mandelson CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER—The Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS—The Rt. Hon. David Miliband, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR JUSTICE AND LORD CHANCELLOR—The Rt. Hon. Jack Straw, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT—The Rt. Hon. Alan Johnson, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ENVIRONMENT,FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS—The Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT—The Rt. Hon. Douglas Alexander, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT—The Rt. Hon. John Denham, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR CHILDREN,SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES—The Rt.
    [Show full text]
  • Assessing New Labour's Record on Equality After 10 Years in Government
    The test of any Labour government is whether it leaves the country“ more equal than it found it. Labour has kept its head above the water – just. But social mobility is still going backwards and the GINI co-efficient, the internationally accepted measure of inequality, is slightly worse for the UK now than in 1997. This is not good enough and should be a sobering closer to thought as we move into a new era of Labour government. We must build on the progress to date, and accept that the challenge we face is greater than that anticipated a decade ago. Progress for some must be translated to progress for all. equality? Every day, not another ten years from now, we have to subject ourselves to the same scrutiny and face the same judgement – are we making Britain more equal? We have to ensure the will, the means and the public support to make it happen. ” Assessing New Labour’s record on equality after 10 years in government Southbank House, Black Prince Road, London SE1 7SJ T: +44 (0) 207 463 0632 [email protected] www.compassonline.org.uk Closer to equality? Assessing New Labour’s record on equality after 10 years in government Contents Introduction 3 Jon Cruddas MP Health 6 Professor Danny Dorling Housing 11 Toby Lloyd Children 17 Child Poverty Action Group Workers 21 Simon Nunn TGWU Race 24 Nick Johnson Women 27 Katherine Rake, Fawcett Society Gay equality 30 Gavin Hayes Education 33 Steve Sinnott NUT Wealth 37 Stewart Lansley Democracy 40 Paul Skidmore Notes 44 Introduction Jon Cruddas MP “I say to the doubters, judge us after across economic and social issues to ten years in office.
    [Show full text]
  • Glaziers & Window Breakers
    Second edition Glaziers & window breakers Former health secretaries in their own words Acknowledgements The Health Foundation and the author are deeply indebted to the 11 former health secretaries who found time for the interviews featured in this book, and to Sir Alan Langlands and Brian Edwards who read a late draft of the first edition, correcting errors of fact and interpretation. Any remaining instances of either remain the responsibility of Nicholas Timmins. The author also thanks Edward Davies for his contributions to the first edition, and at the Foundation, Sean Agass and Hugh Alderwick for all their excellent work on the second. Written by Nicholas Timmins About the author Nicholas Timmins is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government and The King’s Fund. Between 1996 and 2011 he was Public Policy Editor of the Financial Times. He is also a Senior Associate of the Nuffield Trust and a Visiting Professor in Social Policy at the London School of Economics, as well as being the author of the award-winning The five giants: a biography of the welfare state. When referencing this publication please use the following URL: https://doi.org/10.37829/HF-2020-C03 Glaziers & window breakers is published by the Health Foundation, 8 Salisbury Square, London EC4Y 8AP ISBN: 978-1-911615-49-1 © 2020 The Health Foundation Contents Preface to the second edition ii A letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care 1 1. History and analysis 5 Introduction 6 A short history of health secretaries and the NHS 8 Analysing the views of the former health secretaries 38 How the world looked in 2015 56 The new dispensation 63 References 86 2.
    [Show full text]
  • The Conservatives in Crisis
    garnett&l 8/8/03 12:14 PM Page 1 The Conservatives in crisis provides a timely and important analysis incrisis Conservatives The of the Conservative Party’s spell in Opposition following the 1997 general election. It includes chapters by leading academic experts The on the party and commentaries by three senior Conservative politicians: Lord Parkinson, Andrew Lansley MP and Ian Taylor MP. Having been the dominant force in British politics in the twentieth century, the Conservative Party suffered its heaviest general Conservatives election defeats in 1997 and 2001. This book explores the party’s current crisis and assesses the Conservatives’ failure to mount a political recovery under the leadership of William Hague. The Conservatives in crisis includes a detailed examination of the reform of the Conservative Party organisation, changes in ideology in crisis and policy, the party’s electoral fortunes, and Hague’s record as party leader. It also offers an innovative historical perspective on previous Conservative recoveries and a comparison with the revival of the US Republican Party. In the conclusions, the editors assess edited by Mark Garnett and Philip Lynch the failures of the Hague period and examine the party’s performance under Iain Duncan Smith. The Conservatives in crisis will be essential reading for students of contemporary British politics. Mark Garnett is a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Politics at the University of Leicester. Philip Lynch is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Leicester. Lynch Garnett eds and In memory of Martin Lynch THE CONSERVATIVES IN CRISIS The Tories after 1997 edited by Mark Garnett and Philip Lynch Manchester University Press Manchester and New York distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave Copyright © Manchester University Press 2003 While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in Manchester University Press, copyright in individual chapters belongs to their respective authors.
    [Show full text]
  • 10 Ways to Be Health Secretary
    HEALTH AND POLITICS Ж Access this paper online to listen to Nick Timmins and Ed Davies, policy fellow at The Health Foundation, discuss health secretaries past and present the 6 June 2015 10 ways to be health secretarybmj 350:1-36 No 8011 | Clinical research ISSN 0959-8138 JOBS, COURSES, AND CAREERS 350:1-36 No 8011 8011 No 350:1-36 Adolescent Management of As Jeremy Hunt begins a second term as health secretary, Nicholas Timmins asks 10 previousbullying and hypercalcaemia depression CPD/CME hours | 6 June 2015 | 6 June Bronchiolitis in Australia’s incumbents for their gems of wisdom on how to do the job children: shame: how not NICE guidance to treat refugees here is no handbook on how to be health secretary and two chief executives of NHS secretary of state for health. Well, up England have operated them. to now there hasn’t been. The Health But their existence has brought to the fore Foundation, however, has got as the question of how far health ministers can in close as anyone is likely easily to get reality be removed from day to day operations in Tby interviewing 10 of the last 11 former health an almost entirely tax funded system. How far secretaries—from Ken Clarke onwards—about should they be, if the service is to remain account- what they think the role is, what it should be, able to its patients and taxpayers? How far can and what it was when they were there.1 policy, which is clearly in the purview of minis- The move was prompted in part by Andrew ters, genuinely be separated from strategy, from Lansley’s decision, as part
    [Show full text]
  • Original File Was 2Ndsubmission.Tex
    THE FURTHER RISE OF THE CAREER POLITICIAN Soeren J. Henn† Abstract Political careers have changed dramatically in the last fifty years. Still, political science research has yet to fully quantify this development. Building on existing literature on career politicians, this study uses a handful of indicators introduced by King (1981), a new variable (pre-parliamentary occupations), and an original data set compiled by the author. The paper’s contribution to the literature is threefold. Firstly, using the variables introduced by King, I observe that a plateau in the number of career politicians has been reached. Secondly, when looking at the occupational background of politicians, the data show a further rise in career politicians. Thirdly, this development is especially prevalent among cabinet ministers. Keywords: British Politics, Political Careers, Political Recruitment † Harvard University, [email protected]. I am very grateful to Anthony King for excellent advice and support. I also thank Pippa Norris, Jonathan Homola, Priya Shanmugam and participants of the European Political Science Association conference for helpful comments and suggestions. 1 Introduction Political careers have changed dramatically in the last fifty years. Political science has tried to keep up with this development by looking at the professionalization of politics (Squire, 1992, 1993, 2007), the convergence of political careers across countries (Best and Cotta, 2000), the representation of women and minorities (Lovenduski and Norris, 1994; Norris, 1997; Dunrose et al, 2013; Allen and Cutts, 2016; Homola, Forthcoming), and pre-parliamentary professions (Allen, 2012; Cairney, 2012; Goplerud, 2015; Cairney et al, 2016). Recent work on party leaders (Cowley, 2012; Barber, 2014) shows a changing landscape at the top of politics.
    [Show full text]
  • The Failure of Government Management
    www.taxpayersalliance.com Structure of Government No. 2 The Failure of Government Management The performance of any organisation should be judged on the quality of its output. Judged on this basis the management of public services by politicians and civil servants has been extremely poor. Although the UK is the fifth richest country in the world: Standardised tests conducted by the OECD show that, since 2000, British 15-year-olds have fallen from 8 th to 24 th place in maths; from 7 th to 17 th in reading; and in science – an area in which the UK as a whole excels – from 4 th to 14 th ;1 The standard of care provided by the National Health Service is now ranked 16 in a comparison of 19 peer countries;2 Crime levels in England and Wales are the third highest of 39 peer countries;3 Even worse is the fact that the poor and disadvantaged get the worst education and the worst healthcare and suffer the highest rates of crime. This paper, the second in our ‘Structure of Government’ series, examines why the management of UK government is failing. To get a better understanding of the role of the leader of a large organisation, we asked the chief executives of the FTSE 100 companies what experience they would expect of their successors and the minimum time they would want them to stay in office. (See Appendix D for a copy of the letter we sent to each Chief Executive.) 32 CEOs responded, of which 13 provided full answers. Their companies have a combined turnover of £370 billion and staff of 1.8 million.
    [Show full text]