Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Minister responsible for appointing Members of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body is required to appoint the candidates recommended by the Assessment Panel.

All appointments to the Armed Forces Pay Review Body are conducted in accordance with the 2016 Public Appointments Governance Code and are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Paragraph 3.2 of the Code states that: "Ministers should consider the advice of Advisory Assessment Panels but are not bound by their views. Ministers may therefore reject a panel’s advice on the merit of candidates and choose to re-run a competition with a new panel. Ministers may choose to appoint someone who is not deemed “appointable” by the Advisory Assessment Panel. In this case, they must consult the Commissioner for Public Appointments in good time before a public announcement and will be required to justify their decision publicly."

We are finalising the appointment of one member and currently holding a vacancy for a public sector member. For the Business member recruitment campaign, seventeen applications were received with six applicants invited to interview (one candidate withdrew before being interviewed). For the Public Sector member recruitment campaign, twenty-three applications were received with six applicants invited to interview.