We challenged the Cabinet Office on how it can provide effective oversight if it does not know how many NEDs there are serving on all government boards. The Cabinet Office responded that it does not recognise NEDs as a distinct category of public appointment. It told us that the vast majority of public appointments are non-executives but not all of them would be described as non-executive directors. They could, for example, be trustees, commissioners, advisers, board members, chief inspectors...

We challenged the Cabinet Office on how it can provide effective oversight if it does not know how many NEDs there are serving on all government boards. The Cabinet Office responded that it does not recognise NEDs as a distinct category of public appointment. It told us that the vast majority of public appointments are non-executives but not all of them would be described as non-executive directors. They could, for example, be trustees, commissioners, advisers, board members, chief inspectors, adjudicators.19 Type: conclusion | Number: 12 | Response status: not_addressed Government response: 3a. PAC recommendation: The Cabinet Office should include data in its annual public appointments data report about numbers and diversity of: • non-executive directors specifically; and • unregulated public appointments 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementat