The draft code was drawn up by the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London, and sets out proposals to codify tsars’ appointment, the negotiation of their roles, ministers’ duties to explain their appointments, and departments’ responsibilities to report back on the outcomes.
Speaking to CSW, some former tsars expressed concerns that the introduction of a code would enable civil servants to control tsars and surround their appointment with layers of constricting bureaucracy . But Ruth Levitt, visiting senior research fellow at the department and the report’s co-author, argued that the proposals would “not add cost or tie anyone up in red tape”, instead helping to avoid poor spending.
Bernard Jenkin, chair of the Public Administration Select Committee, said he expects the government to resist any such code. “The growth of tsars is a reaction to the regulation of public appointments,” he said. “Ministers have very little unfettered power of appointment and patronage these days, and I think they will see codification as another attempt to tie them down.”
However, he said that he would take the code to be considered by the Commons’ Liaison Committee, and that it might be a useful guide for select committees when scrutinising the appointment of tsars.
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