Collection

Departmental boards and government non-executives

Information on how departments are governed by departmental boards.

Departmental boards provide strategic leadership for each central government department, as well as advising on/challenging how the department is performing. Each board is chaired by the Secretary of State, and includes junior ministers, the permanent secretary and non-executive board members.

Non-executives are appointed to government departments from the public, private and voluntary sectors. Their role is to provide advice and bring an external perspective.

Vacancies for non-executive positions on departmental boards will be advertised on the public appointments website when they arise.

Guidance

Government Lead Non-Executive: role and reports

The Prime Minister is responsible for appointing the Government Lead Non-Executive. The Government Lead Non-Executive meets regularly with departmental lead non-executives and feeds their views back to the Prime Minister, Cabinet Office and Parliament (through annual reports).

Sir Ian Cheshire took up the role of Government Lead Non-Executive in April 2015. He replaced Lord Brown of Madingley.

Updates to this page

Published 6 June 2013
Last updated 28 April 2017 + show all updates
  1. Link to new corporate governance code and more recent reports added.

  2. Updated list of departmental non-executives and added information on departmental boards.

  3. First published.