28 February 2001
The Prime Minister has appointed Sir Nigel Wicks to be the new Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. Sir Nigel will take over from Lord Neill of Bladen QC on 1 March. The Prime Minister has also appointed two new members : Rabbi Julia Neuberger, Chief Executive of the King’s Fund, and Rita Donaghy, Chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). They replace Sir William Utting and Sir Clifford Boulton.
The Prime Minister said "I am very pleased to appoint Sir Nigel as the new head of this senior Committee. He is a distinguished public servant with a long record of working for the good of this country. I am sure that will continue as he takes on this vital role overseeing the standards of all of us who work in public life." The Prime Minister noted his gratitude to Lord Neill, Sir Clifford and Sir William for their work on the Committee and their contribution to standards in public life. Other members of the Committee have been re-appointed to serve a further term. Sir Anthony Cleaver (Chairman, AEA Technology plc and Chairman, Medical Research Council), Frances Heaton (Director, Lazard Brothers & Co Ltd and Director, Bank of England) and the Rt Hon John MacGregor MP OBE (the Conservative Party nominee) have all been re-appointed for a second term of three years. The Rt Hon Lord Shore of Stepney, the Labour Party nominee, has been re-appointed for a third term of one year. He has previously served two terms of three years.
Biographical Notes
Sir Nigel Wicks was until last year Second Permanent Secretary at the Treasury and Director of International Finance, a post which he held for eleven years. Sir Nigel joined the Treasury in 1968 after beginning his career with BP. He worked closely with three Prime Ministers: acting as Private Secretary to Harold Wilson and James Callaghan in the late seventies and as Principal Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher from 1985-88. His career in the Treasury included a secondment to the British Embassy in Washington as Economic Minister in the early 1980s. Sir Nigel is a non-executive director of British Nuclear Fuels plc for which he receives £20,000. He intends to step down from this appointment on becoming Chair of the Committee. Sir Nigel has undertaken no political activity in the past five years. Rita Donaghy’s previous career was in the Trades Unions as a national representative in NALGO, UNISON the TUC and the European TUC. She was President of the Trades Union Congress from 1999-2000 and a member of the Low Pay Commission from July 1997 to October 2000. Her work as Chair of ACAS occupies approximately three days a week and she receives a salary of £53,810 a year. She canvassed on behalf of the Labour Party at the 1997 General Election. Rabbi Julia Neuberger was Chair of the Camden and Islington Community Health Services NHS Trust from 1993-97. She was Chancellor of the University of Ulster from 1994-2000. In addition to her current appointment as Chief Executive of the King’s Fund, she was a Visiting Fellow at the King’s Fund Institute from 1989-91 when she worked on issues of integrity and probity in medical research. She spoke on behalf of the Liberal Democrats at the 1997 General Election and has represented the party on the Camden Standards Panel. (The panel will shortly disband as a result of local government legislation.) She is a Trustee of the Imperial War Museum - an unpaid appointment which takes up 8-10 days a year. Further Information The Committee on Standards in Public Life is an Advisory Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Cabinet Office. It was established in October 1994 with the following terms of reference:
‘To examine current concerns about standards of conduct of all holders of public office, including arrangements relating to financial and commercial activities, and make recommendations as to any changes in present arrangements which might be required to ensure the highest standards of propriety in public life. For these purposes, public office should include: Ministers, civil servants and advisers; Members of Parliament and UK Members of the European Parliament; Members and senior officers of all non-departmental public bodies and of national health service bodies; non-ministerial office holders; members and other senior officers of other bodies discharging publicly-funded functions; and elected members and other senior officers of local authorities.’ Hansard (HC) 25 October 1994, col 758.
In November 1997, additional terms of reference were announced: ‘To review issues in relation to the funding of political parties, and to make recommendations as to any changes in present arrangements.’ Hansard (HC) 12 November 1997, col 899. The first Chair of the Committee was The Rt. Hon. Lord Nolan (1994-97) who was succeeded by Lord Neill of Bladen QC (1997 to date). The processes to appoint the new Chair and two new members were undertaken fully in accordance with the Guidance of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. A search and selection process, including open advertisements in national newspapers and ethnic minority press, was undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The whole process was managed by the Cabinet Office, the sponsoring department for the Committee on Standards in Public Life. The final stage of selection was an interview panel of three people including an Independent Assessor, as required by the Commissioner’s Guidance. The three will take up their appointments on 1 March. The appointments are for three years in the first instance with the possibility of renewal. The Committee has published seven reports. The latest of these was Standards of Conduct in the House of Lords (Cm 4903) published in November 2000.
The membership of the Committee from 1 March 2001 will be:
Sir Nigel Wicks GCB CVO CBE (Chair)
Ann Abraham
Professor Alice Brown
Sir Anthony Cleaver FBCS
Rita Donaghy OBE
Lord Goodhart QC
Frances Heaton
Rt Hon John MacGregor MP OBE
Rabbi Julia Neuberger
Rt Hon Lord Shore of Stepney
The Committee’s website is at: http://www.public-standards.gov.uk/. The Chair of the Committee will receive £380 per day for his work on the Committee and the members are paid £180 per day. It is expected that the duties of the Chair will occupy him for about three days a week. The time commitment for the members is of the order of 12-15 working days a year. The expenses of the Chair and members incurred in their work for the Committee are met in full.
The Report of the Quinquennial Review of the Committee on Standards in Public Life was published on 31 January 2001. Copies are available at http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/central/index/QRReport.pdf.
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