Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what due diligence is carried out and by whom before ministerial appointments are made.
As was the case under previous administrations, ministerial appointments are a matter for the Prime Minister, in line with the Ministerial Code.
For those individuals upon whom the Prime Minister wishes to confer a life peerage, the independent House of Lords Appointments Commission vets nominations. For those individuals upon whom the Prime Minister wishes to confer a peerage in order that they might sit in the House of Lords to take up a ministerial role, the Commission consults the main regulatory authorities, including HMRC, before giving advice.