Decision

Summary of business appointments application - Dominic Jermey

Published 14 November 2017

Dominic Jermey left his posting as HM Ambassador to Afghanistan in August 2017. His last day in the Civil Service was 5 November 2017.

1. Director General, ZSL

Dominic Jermey sought advice under the Business Appointment Rules about taking up an appointment as Director General of ZSL.

ZSL is a learned society involved in wildlife conservation. Mr Jermey described the role as being responsible for leading the Society in its mission to promote and achieve the global conservation of animals.

This is a full-time, paid appointment, offered following an advertised competition.

Mr Jermey told the Committee that it is not ZSL’s practice to lobby Government. Various parts of ZSL’s normal business involve contacts with Government – these contacts are usually at operational level and include engagement with DEFRA over wildlife regulations and with DCMS over the zoo’s lease; applying for grants to fund conservation projects from the Darwin Fund and DFID; and for grants to fund research from the Higher Education Funding Council.

Director, South Asia and Afghanistan, FCO, has considered this appointment and has no reservations about it.

Under the Business Appointment Rules the Committee must consider whether an appointment could be perceived as a reward for decisions made while in office. The Committee concluded that it is difficult to see how such a perception could arise in this case given that Mr Jermey will be working in an area that is unrelated to his career at the FCO, and he had no contact with ZSL or its competitors while in office.

The Committee must also consider the risk that an appointment might afford an organisation an unfair advantage. It has assessed this risk to be low.

ZSL has operational level dealings with Government, including in relation to grant applications to fund conservation projects, for which Mr Jermey will be ultimately responsible as Director General. Any risks are appropriately mitigated by the lobbying condition set out below which makes clear that he may not draw on any contacts developed while in the civil service to influence policy or seek funding.

The Foreign Secretary accepted the Committee’s advice that, in accordance with the Government’s Business Appointment Rules, this appointment be subject to the following conditions:

• he should not draw on (disclose or use for the benefit of himself or the organisation to which this advice refers) any privileged information available to him from his time in Crown Service; and
• for two years from his last day in service, he should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK Government on behalf of ZSL or its associated charity, institute or zoos, or make use, directly or indirectly, of his contacts in Government and/or Crown service to influence policy or secure funding on their behalf.

The letter containing the Committee’s advice was sent in October 2017 and the appointment was announced in November 2017.