Decision

Summary of business appointment applications - Peter Lauener

Published 24 January 2018

Peter Lauener left his role as Chief Executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and Interim Chief Executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships in November 2017.

1. Non-executive Chair, Newcastle College Group

Mr Lauener sought advice under the Business Appointment Rules about taking up an appointment as non-executive Chair of the Newcastle College Group (NCG), a large ‘not-for-profit’ further education and training group.

The Committee’s advice letter containing its consideration of this application is available here.

The role is likely to involve one day of work per week. Mr Lauener noted in his application that the role is remunerated but he has arranged for this to be allocated to the student hardship fund of the college.

Mr Lauener has explained that NCG receives funding from a variety of funding lines, which are administered through ESFA. There are no individual contractual negotiations with providers; funds are allocated according to well-established and published funding formula and in the case of apprenticeships by success in delivering to employers. Funding for 2016-17 was £180 million. Funding is awarded annually in March on an established business cycle, with the exception of apprenticeships, for which funding is awarded by decision of levy-funded employers.

Jonathan Slater, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education, has no reservations about this appointment.

Given that NCG is a recipient of ESFA funding, the Committee carefully considered the propriety risks presented by this appointment. Importantly, this is not an area where there are individual contractual negotiations with providers, which significantly reduces the risk of this appointment being seen as a reward. It is also relevant that Mr Lauener applied for an advertised post and that he will not benefit financially from the role.

The Committee concluded that the appointment should not provide NCG with an unfair advantage. Mr Lauener is seeking to take up a governance role and has been clear with his employer that he would not wish to have any representational role with Government. The Committee noted Mr Lauener’s explanation that colleges operate as ‘not-for-profit’ entities within the same funding and assurance framework and observed that they are not therefore competitors in the same sense as commercial businesses. The Committee considers that any residual risk is mitigated by the terms of the lobbying ban set out below.

The Prime Minister 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) 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 Newcastle College Group 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 the Committee’s advice was sent in January 2018 and the appointment was announced later that month.