Civil servants ‘breaking rules on top jobs’

Karen Carlton, Scotland’s outgoing public appointments commissioner, revealed that she had not received enough evidence to suggest that individuals appointed to powerful positions in Scotland were suitable for the job. It emerged yesterday that Ms Carlton has written a stinging letter to Permanent Secretary Sir Peter Housden, complaining that civil servants were “wilfully or through ignorance” misrepresenting the work of her office. Ms Carlton devised a revised code of practice for public appointments that was introduced in September last year. According to Ms Carlton, 22 individuals have been reappointed to public bodies without complying with the guidelines. In some of the cases, Ms Carlton was not presented with evidence that the person being reappointed was performing properly. Appearing in front of Holyrood’s standards committee yesterday, Ms Carlton said she was not in a position to question the ability of any board member reappointed by ministers. But neither did she have evidence to suggest that they were all doing their jobs properly. “Because I don’t see what the individual’s performance has been, I can’t comment on their suitability or otherwise,” she told MSPs. “What was lacking was evidence presented to me of that confidence that the individuals concerned met the requirements.” Ms Carlton’s frustration was laid bare in her January letter to Sir Peter. The letter said she had “grave concerns” about the “demonstrable lack of understanding displayed by Scottish Government officials tasked with administration of the public appointments process”. She said stakeholders had contacted her to let her know officials attributed problems to the code when they related to their own “ignorance or ineptitude”. She added that she had evidence the civil service code had been breached as a result of the “thoroughly unprofessional” way in which her office had been misrepresented. A Scottish Government spokesman said: “While the introduction of a new code has been a learning curve, we have taken action to strengthen the appointments process and are working with the commissioner to build on these foundations. “We are confident we have the right people on our public body boards, and the commissioner has made it clear she does not dispute the reappointments made.”