Former cabinet secretary and head of the civil service Simon Case has set up an independent consultancy and agreed projects with two initial companies.
Lord Case – who joined the House of Lords in June – said in his application to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments that his consultancy will focus on advisory work on senior leadership and strategy questions, in sectors such as technology, financial services and education.
Acoba has approved the application to set up the consultancy and the first two projects, but stated that Case will need to seek approval for each commission he plans to take up.
In its advisory letter, the committee said “it would not be improper for Dr Case to operate a consultancy which draws on generic skills and experience he gained from his time in government”.
It also said the risks “are hard to quantify given the potentially broad and wide ranging nature of the consultancy”.
Acoba said there is a risk associated with Case’s “privileged insight into government’s policy options that were being considered until relatively recently” and “a risk he could offer a potential unfair advantage over competitors – whether in relation to seeking new clients, or in providing them with advice”.
But it noted that “with the passage of time, his access to information will become less salient”.
The committee also said there was a risk that his time as cab sec and HOCS “may be seen to offer him access to privileged contacts that could now be used to gain business and/or access to government for his consultancy and its clients”.
To mitigate these risks, Acoba decided that a six-month gap from his last day in government would be proportionate, along with the other standard conditions on lobbying and privileged information.
However, it said for future commissions the committee will need to put close scrutiny on work in which Case provides advice on “matters where he made decisions or had privileged insight on”.
The committee said it will “want to carefully consider the suitability of this work, and may advise that a further waiting period is required”. Where conditions and a suitable waiting period cannot appropriately mitigate the risks, the committee could advise that the work is unsuitable to take up within the two years that the business appointment rules apply.
Acoba has also given the go-ahead to Case’s first two commissions at his independent consultancy – at US company Workday and UK firm Bridgepoint.
Workday is a USA-based on‑demand financial management, human capital management, and student information system software vendor.
Acoba noted that Case had met with Workday in relation to the then-prime minister Rishi Sunak’s AI Safety Summit in November 2023. However, the committee said it was “significant” that Case was not involved in decisions specific to Workday as a result of this meeting or otherwise.
The committee also noted that Workday has multiple contracts across the UK government, including with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Cabinet Office.
However, it decided that, “despite the significant commercial relationship Workday holds with government departments”, the risk that the commission be reasonable seen as a reward for decisions Case made in government service was “limited”.
It also noted that the Cabinet Office had said it did not believe Case possessed “any specific information that is likely to confer an unfair advantage to Workday”.
Acoba also said Case had been clear with Workday that he cannot be involved in lobbying the UK government on the company’s behalf, nor involved in any contracts or bids relating to the UK government or draw on his knowledge of government to further the company’s UK interests. Workday has agreed that these conditions will be written into his contract and will be binding on both parties.
Bridgepoint is a UK-based private equity and asset management firm which operates across various sectors such as advanced industrials, technology, business and financial services, and healthcare.
ACOBA noted that there is “no relationship” between Bridgepoint and the departments Case worked in and that Case did not meet with and was not involved in any decisions specific to Bridgepoint whilst working in government. It said the risk this work could reasonably be perceived as a reward for decisions made in office was therefore low.
The committee advised that both commissions – at Workday and Bridgepoint – should be subject to the same conditions applied to Case’s independent consultancy.
Case was also advised that he must not make use of privileged insight gained from his ongoing role as the independent chair of the Barrow Delivery Transformation Fund.