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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 16 January (HL4542) concerning the obligations of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), what are the differences between the obligations that have been, since 2004, placed on the FRC by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the obligations set out by the Cabinet Office for non-departmental public bodies; in particular relating to (1) procurement, (2) recruitment, (3) remuneration of FRC executives, and (4) conflicts of interest.

The Office for National Statistics concluded in December 2014 that the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) was a public body within central government. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (as it then was) examined whether there was scope for further review. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy concluded in 2017 that they should work with the FRC on the application of all relevant guidelines.

Up to that point the FRC determined its own policies on these matters. This is with the exception of the appointment of its Chair and Deputy Chair by the Secretary of State, which followed best practice for ministerial appointments.

Decisions on the application of the guidelines, during the prolonged period in which the status of the FRC as a public body was the subject of or pending review, were taken by Departmental officials under the delegated authority of the responsible departmental accounting officer.