Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether there is a representative of his Department's employees on its departmental board; and what plans he has to provide for additional stakeholder representation on that board.

Yes, employees are represented on the Department’s board. The Permanent Secretary is a standing member of the Departmental Board, and meets with the Departmental Trade Unions as staff representatives.

There are several other ways in which the views of employees of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are currently already taken into account by the Departmental Board and its supporting committees.

The Board regularly discusses staff related matters, such as the Civil Service People Survey results which reflect the views of the Department’s employees, including views on the transition programme to create a new Department.

The Department’s governance structure includes a People and Operations Committee, chaired by the Directors General responsible for People, Corporate Services and the transition programme. This Committee has standing representation from the HR Director and staff diversity networks as full members. Recommendations from the Committee are routinely taken to the Department’s Executive Committee for endorsement and approval.

The composition of the Departmental Board is determined by Cabinet Office and HMT’s Corporate Governance in Central Government Departments: Code of Good practice (2011). Cabinet Office and HMT are currently in the process of refreshing this guidance to reflect current best practice.

The Board also has external Non-Executive Board Members (NEBMs) as standing members. NEBMs provide external challenge and scrutiny and offer wider stakeholder views to the Board.