Conduct Of Cabinet Government And Private Sector Company Boards

EDM number 1493 in 2005-06, proposed by Gordon Prentice on 26/01/2006.

That this House recalls that the Hutton and Butler inquiries exposed the decision-making processes in Downing Street to public view revealing, for example, that of the 17 meetings held on average each day at Number 10 only three were recorded in minutes and that although excellent papers were written by officials on Iraq they were not put on the agenda or discussed in Cabinet or Cabinet Committee; believes that modest changes are required to ensure that cabinet government meets the standards commonly expected of private sector company boards ensuring that important issues are considered with care on the basis of high quality papers containing the facts and an analysis of alternative options and their advantages and disadvantages, that decisions are made on a reasonable basis and the analysis and processes leading to the decisions are appropriate, that decisions are taken properly where all those members of the board who will be held responsible are given the opportunity to be involved, that the analysis, procedures followed and decisions taken are recorded and if a committee is appointed this is done after a resolution of all members of the board and the scope of authority is defined; notes that all these points are based on the Combined Code of Corporate Governance 2003 and the Companies Act 1985; believes these could form the basis of a new approach to decision-making in central government; and congratulates Nick Monck for these insights which have been published in the Political Quarterly.

This motion has been signed by a total of 33 MPs.