Fears of ‘major shortfalls’ in system of policy tsars

An independent blueprint for a new code of practice for tsars was launched in a bid to secure higher standards in the way the independent policy advisers are appointed and do their work.

Researchers from King’s College, London, found that policy tsars are an “increasingly influential” source of advice for ministers but are not subject to the same formal requirements to observe codes of accountability and openness as ministers, civil servants, special advisers or other official appointees.

While tsars are useful to Ministers, many of them are “largly invisible” to the public and the system is marked by “major shortfalls... including a lack of transparency and accountability, a vulnerability to ministerial idiosyncrasy and weaknesses in propriety”.

The need to regularise the position of tsars has been given added urgency by the Government’s proposals for civil service reform, which would give Ministers greater power to pick their own senior officials and open up Whitehall to greater collaboration with outside bodies, said Dr Ruth Levitt, visiting senior research fellow in the King’s College Department of Political Economy.

While some tsars – like high street shopping guru Mary Portas and social mobility adviser James Caan – have hit the headlines thanks to their celebrity status, the research found that most are little-known to the public and tend to be drawn from a “small pool” of people Ministers already know or know of. A “great majority” are male, white and aged over 50, and many of them are titled.

Around half of them receive fees and/or expenses and there is no clear system for deciding on payment, found the researchers. There is no systematic record across government of past appointments and no formal process for evaluating their effectiveness and learning lessons about good practice, they said.

Tsars became a familiar feature of UK political life under Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, but the rate of appointments has stepped up since the coalition came to power. Of the 300 appointed since 1997, more than 100 took up their posts under the coalition.

In a statement, the researchers said: “Currently, tsars are largely invisible, because it suits Ministers and potential appointees to make informal arrangements between themselves, often after little more than a private phone call or a chat. The advice can be relatively inexpensive, quick, timely and influential, and it can reflect well on the Minister.

“But there are weaknesses in the propriety of these public appointments and inadequacies in the effectiveness of the Government’s handling of tsars’ work. Currently, tsars are not subject to any existing codes of practice and arrangements are vulnerable to opaque procedures.”