Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of regulators and Arm’s Length Bodies having shorter business appointment rule restrictions than the Civil Service on the effectiveness of the restrictions.

The Business Appointment Rules apply to civil servants, special advisers, and ministers via their relevant codes of conduct.

Public bodies operating at arm’s length from the government are expected to implement their own equivalent processes to the Rules to manage potential conflicts of interest. These should be tailored to the specific organisational context, and in line with relevant guidance and support from their sponsor department.