Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people applied to sit on the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments in each round of appointments since 2010; and how many of those applications were (a) women, (b) disabled, (c) from ethnic minority background and (d) from working class backgrounds.

With the exception of appointments made by the relevant political parties, appointments to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments are made on merit following a fair and open competition. The detailed information requested is not held.

As set out in the Advisory Committee’s Code of Practice, members must declare and record relevant interests relating to individual applications received for outside appointments. Where a member recuses him or herself from consideration of an application this is recorded in the Committee’s final advice, which is published on its website.