The post-government jobs regulation system “is bust and needs fixing”, Advisory Committee on Business Appointments chair Eric Pickles has said.
In a foreword to a new report from the watchdog, Lord Pickles has set out three reforms the government can make immediately to strengthen the system without the need for new legislation.
“The smooth operation of this system is fundamental to ensuring government benefits from the interchange of skills and experience between the public, private and charitable sectors, while protecting the integrity of government,” he said.
“Some long overdue changes could be implemented in a matter of weeks without the need for legislation.”
Pickles said one of these reforms must be the creation of “an enforceable system with options to meaningfully sanction individuals for egregious breaches”.
Acoba provides independent advice to former ministers and the most senior civil servants on appointments they wish to take up on leaving government, basing its decisions on the Business Appointment Rules.
Pickles said the government should make compliance with the rules a “formal obligation” and hit individuals who fail to comply with a range of sanctions, including legal action for non-compliance.
“There can be no credibility in a system that continues to have no demonstrable consequences or tangible deterrent for non-compliance and lacks a clear focus on the right things,” Pickles said.
Labour has said its plan for a new ethics and integrity commission would strengthen revolving-doors regulation, with ministers who breach lobbying rules facing sanctions that they “can feel in their pockets”. Labour has also said it would ban ministers form lobbying for five years after leaving office.
Under the current system, Acoba has no power to punish breaches and instead reports them to departments, who decide what action, if any, to take.
Pickles’ second recommendation to the government is to introduce a formal mechanism – such as a ministerial deed – to commit ministers to compliance with the rules, setting out the expectations under the rules “clearly and up front”.
The Acoba chair has also urged the government to introduce a risk-based approach to the system, exempting low risk applications, such as roles in academia, media and positions in the wider public sector, and clarifying which roles would be considered high risk and subject to more stringent conditions.
Pickles said the committee is currently “forced to expend considerable resources not only on cases where someone has been working at the heart of policy, regulatory or commercial decision-making that overlaps with their potential new role, but also on unpaid roles that have no relation to someone’s time in office”.
It said exemptions would also reduce the administrative burden on departments.
“Scarce public resources need to be directed to where the risks posed to the government’s integrity are greatest,” Pickles added
Introducing this set of reforms “would demonstrate a willingness to get things moving immediately and make an unambiguous statement of intent for potential statutory measures”, the Acoba chair said.
Pickles said he has overseen a programme of reform to strengthen Acoba’s approach within the framework set by recent governments which have increased transparency, improved risk assessment and ensured public letters are unambiguous. But he said the improvements “can only go so far”. “The system is bust and needs fixing,” he added.
Pickles’ recommendations come in a foreword to a report released by Acoba on its work from 2020-2024.
The report said the past four years had seen an increasing trend towards senior officials and ministers taking up post-government roles where there is overlap with their responsibilities in government, and an increasing number of applications for advice moving into consultancy roles.
The committee advised on 416 applications from former ministers and 401 applications from senior crown servants during the four-year period.
The report also found a big increase in applicants not taking up the post-government roles they asked Acoba for advice on. Some 37% of applicants in 2023-24 withdrew their applications, while 16% had not taken up the roles by the end of the financial year.
This compares to a withdrawal rates of 22% in 2022-23, 17% in 2021-22 and 11% in 2020-21, and not taking up the role-rates of 1%, 7% and 11% in the respective years.
Reasons for roles not being taken up can include the Acoba advice making it untenable or unattractive to carry out the role as intended or the applicants deciding not to pursue a role for reasons unrelated to the risk profile and conditions imposed, according to the report.
Breaches of the business rules remained low, with there being five in 2023-24, compared to seven, five and 12 in the previous three years. All of the years covered saw three-figure levels of applications to Acoba.
A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to restoring trust and ensuring government is in the service of working people. We share Lord Pickles' concerns and have committed to reviewing and updating post-government employment rules and enforcing restrictions on ministers lobbying for the companies they used to regulate."
They added: "We thank the committee for their report and the role they play helping to maintain standards in public life."