Public appointments
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is responsible for some 70 Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs).
We are committed to appointments to public bodies being made on merit.
Public appointments are made by Ministers to the boards of the Non-Departmental Public Bodies.
Appointments include the positions of Chair, Deputy Chair and Board members.
Ministerial appointments to NDPBs and public corporations are made in accordance with the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments more commonly known as the OCPA Code.
The role of the Commissioner is to regulate, monitor, report and advise on the way in which Ministers make appointments to the Boards of public bodies.
For more information see the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) website
What are NDPBs?
There are three types of Non-Departmental Public Bodies.
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Executive bodies: which between them carry out a wide range of operational and regulatory functions, various scientific and cultural activities and some commercial or semi-commercial activities.
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Advisory bodies: which are usually composed of a group of experts in a particular sphere advising the government on one narrow issue.
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Tribunals: which, as their names suggest, have a judicial or quasi-judicial function.
Some appointments that do not come within the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments, are made using a process which takes into account the Commissioner's Code of Practice as best practice and they are included in the list.
