Hogan-Howe story shows action is needed on appointments 

Reports that Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe, the former Metropolitan Police chief, is Boris Johnson’s preferred candidate to be the new head of the National Crime Agency (NCA) are in one sense not a surprise. ^[1] Hogan-Howe worked with Johnson during his time as Mayor of London and endorsed him during his Conservative leadership campaign, ^[2] so will be a known quantity to the prime minister and those around him. 

But Hogan-Howe was reportedly not even considered suitable for interview by a recruitment panel chosen by ministers. And it reflects very poorly on the appointments system that details of this recruitment process have only become public thanks to leaks to the press. 

The government is overriding a process over which it has full control 

The appointment of a new director-general to lead the NCA – a non-ministerial department with a £600m annual budget and the responsibility for leading work to cut serious and organised crime ^[3] – is entirely in the hands of ministers. It is an ‘unregulated’ ministerial appointment, meaning it does not have to be conducted according to civil service or public appointments rules. Ministers can run the recruitment process however they like, and there is no requirement for the government to publish details of how the decision was made. There is also no duty to advertise the role publicly, although in this case it was advertised on the Civil Service Jobs website. ^[4]

This means that the home secretary was able to choose who sifted candidates for this role, and to sign off the job specification on which the sift was based. If the media reporting is to believed, this process ruled out Hogan-Howe as a candidate – but the government appears to be rerunning the process to bypass that judgement, and ensure he gets the job anyway. 

This is the latest in a series of damaging leaks from ongoing appointment processes 

None of this would have come to light if not for the leaky nature of high profile appointments. Recent appointments for the chairs of Ofcom and the BBC, for instance, have also seen private details about the appointment process and shortlists repeatedly surface in the media. ^[5]

It is difficult to know who is doing the leaking. They seem to emerge from processes where there is a power struggle over who to appoint between Number 10 and the ‘sponsor department’ responsible for the appointment. This seems to be the case for the NCA, where Hogan-Howe appears to be the prime minister’s choice. But the leaks have real consequences – putting candidates off applying for fear of media speculation undermining them in their current job or confidential information getting out – and should be stopped.

More regulation and transparency would restore trust in public appointments

Improving the transparency of processes like this is even more important than preventing leaks. An appointment as important and high-profile as this one should not rest on the judgement of ministers alone, without any opportunity for scrutiny. Instead, the position should be regulated, either by the Commissioner for Public Appointments if it remains a direct ministerial appointment, or preferably by the First Civil Service Commissioner. Currently, the legislation setting up the position explicitly excludes it from regulation by the latter, ^[6] despite the fact that it is a full time, executive role of the sort which is normally a civil service appointment. 

There have been repeated recommendations, most recently in the Grimstone review in 2016, ^[7] that all ministerial appointments should be regulated by default. But these recommendations have not been followed, leading the Committee on Standards in Public Life to complain of a “a lack of transparency on the number and nature of unregulated appointees.” ^[8] The appointment of a new director-general for the NCA is only one of a long list of such unregulated appointments which have been in the news recently, including the appointment of Baroness Harding as head of NHS Test and Trace, which was subject to a court battle, ^[9] and the appointment of Gina Coladangelo to the board of the Department for Health and Social Care. 

Regulation would require recruitment processes to adhere to either the Governance Code on Public Appointments for ministerial appointments ^[10] or the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act for civil service appointments. ^[11] These rules place limits on ministers’ roles in the appointments process, and require open competition and appointment on merit. Regulation by the Commissioner for Public Appointments would also result in more transparency, as there is a duty in that case for the composition of the interview panel, for instance, to be published.  

Regulation is not unduly onerous and it would restore public trust. No-one benefits from public speculation about the propriety of an appointment, least of all the candidate eventually chosen, who must contend with suggestions that they got the job through political bias or ‘cronyism’. For the sake of the public appointee, at the very least, the government should subject all major appointments such as these to regulation. 

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1. Gadher D, ‘Boris Johnson backs Lord Hogan-Howe to run National Crime Agency’, Sunday Times, 21 May 2022, www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-backs-lord-hogan-howe-to-run-national-crime-agency-pwqjvhjxw 
2. Syal R and Dodd V, ‘Boris Johnson faces backlash after pushing former Met chief for NCA role’, The Guardian, 23 May 2022, retrieved 24 May 2022, www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/23/boris-johnson-bernard-hogan-howe-national-crime-agency-nca 
3. Cabinet Office, Public bodies report 2020, Gov.uk, 15 July 2021, retrieved 24 May 2022, www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-bodies-2020 #
4. Dunton J, ‘National Crime Agency offers £223k for next DG’, Civil Service World, 12 December 2021, retrieved 24 May 2022, www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/national-crime-agency-offers-223k-salary-for-next-dg 
5. See for instance: Laura Kuenssberg, ‘Sources suggest there's been a lot of tension btw DCMS and No 10 over the Ofcom pick - Downing St understood to be keen on Stephen Gilbert, DCMS more keen on Grade, with a lot of back and forth over the last couple of days’, Twitter, 4:42pm, 24 March 2022, retrieved 24 May 2022, twitter.com/bbclaurak/status/1507035172436336650?s=20&t=aeYldUCOCYnh6pS0ypU8Ggv; Shah O, ‘Enemy of the establishment: Paul Dacre and the No 10 plan to make him Ofcom boss’, The Sunday Times, 3 July 2021, retrieved 24 May 2022, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/enemy-of-the-establishment-paul-dacre-and-the-no-10-plan-to-make-him-ofcom-boss-k5xnszj6n; Owen G, ’Is Boris about to make Charles Moore – a pro-hunting, anti-licence fee Brexiteer – the new BBC chairman? (It's the question that will have Broadcasting House wokerati choking on their turmeric lattes)’, Mail on Sunday, 19 September 2020, retrieved 24 May 2022, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8751189/Is-Boris-make-Charles-Moore-pro-hunting-anti-licence-fee-Brexiteer-new-BBC-chairman.html  
6. UK Parliament, Crime and Courts Act 2013, enacted 25 April 2013, retrieved 24 May 2022, www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/22/schedule/1 , schedule 1, part 2, section 7.
7. Lord Grimstone, Better Public Appointments: A Review of the Public Appointments Process, Gov.uk, March 2016, retrieved 8 February 2022, www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-public-appointments-review-of-the-public-appointments-process, p. 21
8. Committee on Standards in Public Life, Upholding Standards in Public Life: Final report of the  Standards Matter 2 review, November 2021, assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1029944/Upholding_Standards_in_Public_Life_-_Web_Accessible.pdf, p. 79.
9. goodlawproject.org/update/dido-harding-mike-coupe-unlawful/ 
10. Cabinet Office, Governance Code on Public Appointments, Gov.uk, December 2016, assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/578498/governance_code_on_public_appointments_16_12_2016.pdf
11. UK Parliament, Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, enacted 8 April 2010, retrieved 24 May 2022, www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/25/section/10, section 10.