Member

There are, of course, appropriate mechanisms already in place to ensure that members meet the necessary standards. Terms of reference, appointment processes through public appointment protocols and the Nolan principles provide ample routes for ensuring that members are competent, qualified and ethical in their conduct. However, this clause goes further and gives Ministers a unilateral power to control who can and cannot sit on the board through secondary legislation. This goes to the heart of where the confusion lies, because the OCPA process—the process for appointments to arm’s-length bodies—is clearly set out, with clear rules and regulations. The fact that we are not quite sure of the status of the PSFA is possibly a cause of these problems.