Business, Innovation and Skills written statement – made at on 22 March 2012.
Mark Prisk
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
We will shortly commence a “Triennial Review” of the Industrial Development Advisory Board, to Cabinet Office guidelines.
As part of the coalition agreement, all Government Departments are required to review all their non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) at least every three years.
The Industrial Development Advisory Board has been selected by BIS as one of the NDPBs for which the review will commence during the first year of the programme (2011-12).
The review will be conducted as set out in Cabinet Office guidance, in two stages.
The first stage will
Identify and examine the key functions of the Industrial Development Advisory Board and assess how these functions contribute to the core business of BIS.
Assess the requirement for these to continue.
If continuing, then assess delivery options and where the conclusion is that a particular function is still needed examine how this function might best be delivered, including a cost and benefits analysis where appropriate.
If one of these options is continuing delivery through the Industrial Development Advisory Board, then make an assessment against the Government’s “three tests”: technical function; political impartiality; need for independence from Ministers.
If the outcome of stage 1 is that delivery should continue through the Industrial Development Advisory Board then the second stage of the project will be to ensure that it is operating in line with the recognised principles of good corporate governance, using the Cabinet Office “comply or explain” standard approach.
The report of the review will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
If you would like further information or wish to comment please e-mail triennialreviews@bis.gsi.gov.uk
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
