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Public appointments

What information does this cover?

Information about public appointments or senior civil service appointments, including information about candidates or possible candidates, and details of the appointment or recruitment exercise, including job specifications, selection criteria and assessment of candidates.

Working assumption

Where information is already available in the public domain, for example information about the number of public appointments and other information published annually by individual departments, the Cabinet Office and the Commissioner for Public Appointments, it can be withheld citing section 21 (reasonably accessible to the applicant by other means). You should refer the requestor to the publicly available information.

Information relating to the selection exercise, including job specifications, advertising and selection criteria, and anonymised statistics on the results of the exercise, such as the number of applicants and interviewees should be released, so long as it is not possible to identify individuals from statistical information (see para 4).

If the requestor is seeking their own personal data the information may be released, subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Personal data and any information which might identify candidates or potential candidates should be withheld citing section 40 (personal information) and possibly section 41 (information provided in confidence).

Other relevant exemptions may be:

• section 35 (formulation of government policy) - in particular section 35(1)(a)
• section 36 (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) - in particular section 36(2)(b) and (c)
• section 41 (information provided in confidence) if the information was obtained from any other person and if disclosure would constitute an actionable breach of confidence
• section 43 (commercial interests).

Reasons for the assumptions

Details of vacant senior civil service posts or public appointments are normally publicly available. It is also likely that the methods used to identify and recruit people to such posts will be either publicly available, or will not attract any exemption from disclosure. Even if not routinely made public, it is unlikely that harm would arise from disclosure of such information. An exemption might only apply in cases where disclosure of the recruitment procedure might prejudice the procedure itself, and hence the future supply of suitable candidates.

Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act provides exemption from disclosure for information concerning a living identifiable person. Disclosure of such personal information must be dealt with under the Data Protection Act 1998. Generally, requesters will be entitled to information about themselves (subject to any exemptions in the DPA) but only to information about other individuals where that would be considered reasonable in terms of the Data Protection Act. The Data Protection Act's data protection principles must be complied with if an individual's personal data is disclosed, in particular the first principle (fair processing) requires that at least one of the following conditions set out in Schedule 2 to the Data Protection Act is met:

• The data subject has given consent to the processing.
• The processing is necessary -
• • (a) for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is a party, or
  • (b) for the taking of steps at the request of the data subject with a view to entering into a contract.
• The processing is necessary for compliance with any legal obligation to which the data controller is subject, other than an obligation imposed by contract
• The processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject.
• The processing is necessary -
• • (a) for the administration of justice,
  • (b) for the exercise of any functions conferred on any person by or under any enactment,
  • (c) for the exercise of any function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown or a government department, or
  • (d) for the exercise of any other functions of a public nature exercised in public interest by any person.
• (1) The processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by the data controller or by the third party or parties to whom the data are disclosed, except where the processing is unwarranted in any particular case by reason of prejudice to the rights and freedoms or legitimate interests of the data subject.
  (2) The Secretary of State may by order specify particular circumstances in which this condition is, or is not, to be taken to be satisfied.

Candidates: It is unlikely that the disclosure of personal data held on any candidate would be justified by one of the above categories. If so, information should be withheld which could lead to identification of any candidate.

Board members: Information about sift panels or appointment board members should be withheld while the exercise is continuing. It may be possible to be disclose this information once the appointment process is over. There may be a public interest in disclosing the identities of interview panel members, especially for very senior and public posts, in order to demonstrate that the selection had been made by persons with the necessary knowledge and abilities to make that choice.

It should be noted that there is already independent scrutiny of certain public appointments by an Independent Assessor, and that many appointments are regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments Code of Practice. This might reduce the public interest in disclosure of the information. The Civil Service Commissioners' Recruitment Code regulates all Civil Service recruitment.

Confidentiality: Information may be withheld under section 41 if confidence has been requested, or there is an implied duty of confidence.

Commercial interests: Disclosure of information concerning contractual relationships with outside firms, such as recruitment agencies, may prejudice the commercial interests of the agency or the public authority and should be withheld. Similarly, information should be withheld which, if disclosed, would, or would be likely, prejudice another person's commercial interests (for instance: information which would prejudice candidates' existing employment or where the fact that an individual is seeking to leave a company could affect the company's share price). Assertions of commercial confidentiality should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Referral points

Cases should be referred to the Clearing House where they relate to particularly sensitive appointments or where the request has been prompted by leaks or speculation about candidates or the recruitment process.