The business appointment rules

Book excerpt: The Business Appointment Rules set out the circumstances in which civil servants and others need to obtain government approval to accept an outside appointment within two years of leaving Crown service. In 2004-05 Sir Patrick Brown conducted a review of the rules and concluded that there should just be a single-test rule (that the individual had not had, in the previous three years, any material influence on a decision that benefited his prospective employer) and that applications should be scrutinised by a team under the aegis of the Civil Service Commission. With reference to this review, the Committee has examined the Business Appointment Rules. It concludes that it is inappropriate for Crown servant to move directly to positions where they may lobby former Ministers or colleagues. They also believe that cases should be dealt with on an individual basis and a single-test, single-sanction rule is inappropriate.