Decision

Advice letter: Nick Gibb, Consultant, Yondr Inc

Updated 21 May 2025

1. BUSINESS APPOINTMENT APPLICATION:The Rt Hon Sir Nick Gibb, former Minister of State for Schools - paid appointment with Yondr Inc.

You approached the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (the Committee) under the government’s Business Appointment Rules for Former Ministers (the Rules) seeking advice on taking up a paid role as a Consultant for Yondr Inc.

The purpose of the Rules is to protect the integrity of the government. The Committee has considered the risks associated with the actions and decisions made during your time in office, alongside the information and influence you may offer Yondr Inc, as a former education minister. The material information taken into consideration by the Committee is set out in the annex.

The Committee’s advice is not an endorsement of the appointment - it imposes a number of conditions to mitigate the potential risks to the government associated with the appointment under the Rules.

The Ministerial Code sets out that ministers must abide by the Committee’s advice. It is an applicant’s personal responsibility to manage the propriety of any appointment. Former ministers of the Crown, and Members of Parliament, are expected to uphold the highest standards of propriety and act in accordance with the 7 Principles of Public Life.

2. The Committee’s consideration of the risks presented

Yondr is a US based company that produces and sells lockable pouches for mobile phones that while in the pouch, stops the phone being usable but stays in the person’s possession. According to Yondr’s website, it’s the industry leader in helping educators, artists, and families create phone-free spaces. As a Consultant you said your role will be focused on advising on the education market in the UK and globally and speaking at conferences and attending other events.

As a former Minister of State for Schools you did not meet with, nor did you make any policy, regulatory or commercial decisions specific to Yondr Inc while in office. The Committee considered that the risk that this role could reasonably be seen as a reward for your decisions made and actions taken in office is low.

There is a risk associated with your contacts and influence in government and the potential for Yondr Inc to gain unfair access or influence as a result. You said that your role will not involve contact with the UK government. Whilst in ministerial office you may have developed contacts in other external organisations, particularly within education,  that may be seen to be useful in securing business for Yondr Inc offering a potential unfair advantage.

3. The Committee’s advice

The Committee^{[footnote 1]} considered the risks associated with this application can be appropriately mitigated by the conditions below.  These seek to prevent Yondr Inc gaining an unfair advantage as a result of your privileged access to information, contacts and influence whilst in government.

In accordance with the government’s Business Appointment Rules, the Committee advises that this appointment with Yondr Inc be subject to the following conditions:

• you should not draw on (disclose or use for the benefit of yourself or the persons or organisations to which this advice refers) any privileged information available to you from your time in ministerial service;

• for two years from your last day in ministerial office, you should not become personally involved in lobbying government or any of its arm’s length bodies on behalf of Yondr Inc (including parent companies, subsidiaries, partners and clients); nor should you make use, directly or indirectly, of your contacts in government and/or Crown service to influence policy, secure business/funding or otherwise unfairly advantage Yondr Inc (including parent companies, subsidiaries, partners and clients);

• for two years from your last day in ministerial office, you should not provide advice to Yondr Inc (including parent companies, subsidiaries, partners and clients) on the terms of, or with regard to the subject matter of, a bid with, or contract relating directly to the work of the UK government and its arm’s length bodies;

• for two years from your last day in ministerial office, you should not become personally involved in lobbying contacts you developed during your time in office in other governments and organisations for the purpose of securing business for Yondr Inc.

The advice and the conditions under the government’s Business Appointment Rules relate to your previous role in government only; they are separate from rules administered by other bodies such as the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and the Registrar of Lords’ Interests ^{[footnote 2]}. It is an applicant’s personal responsibility to understand any other rules and regulations they may be subject to in parallel with this Committee’s advice.

By ‘privileged information’ we mean official information to which a minister or Crown servant has had access as a consequence of his or her office or employment and which has not been made publicly available. Applicants are also reminded that they may be subject to other duties of confidentiality, whether under the Official Secrets Act, the Civil Service Code or otherwise.

The Business Appointment Rules explain that the restriction on lobbying means that the former Crown servant/minister ’should not engage in communication with government (ministers, civil servants, including special advisers, and other relevant officials/public office holders) – wherever it takes place - with a view to influencing a government decision, policy or contract award/grant in relation to their own interests or the interests of the organisation by which they are employed, or to whom they are contracted or with which they hold office.’

You must inform us as soon as you take up employment with this organisation(s), or if it is announced that you will do so. You must also inform us if you propose to extend or otherwise change the nature of your role as, depending on the circumstances, it may be necessary for you to make a fresh application.

Once the appointment has been publicly announced or taken up, we will publish this letter on the Committee’s website, and where appropriate, refer to it in the relevant annual report.

4. Annex - Material Information

4.1 The Role

Yondr Inc produces and sells lockable pouches for mobile phones that, while in the pouch, stops the phone being usable but stays in the person’s possession. The company is US based and founded in 2014. Yondr has offices in California, New York, Minnesota, London, and Sydney.

You said that your paid, part-time role as a consultant will be focused on advising on the education market in the UK and globally, speaking at conferences, and attending other events. You said you would be using your experience of implementing education reform to help Yondr Inc to further its engagement in the UK and overseas. You said that the role will not involve contact with government.

4.2 Dealings in office

Of your time in office, you said the following:

• you did not make any policy, commercial or regulatory decisions specific to Yondr Inc in your role as Minister of State for Schools

• you did not have any contact with Yondr Inc

• Yondr Inc has no relationship with DFE

• you did not have access to sensitive information through any of your ministerial roles that could grant Yondr Inc or its clients an unfair advantage

4.3 Departmental Assessment

DFE confirmed the details in your application. DFE recommended applying the standard conditions.

1. This application for advice was considered by Andrew Cumpsty; Hedley Finn OBE; Sarah de Gay; Dawid Konotey-Ahulu CBE DL; The Rt Hon Lord Eric Pickles; Michael Prescott was recused; The Baroness Thornton; and Mike Weir. ↩

2. All Peers and Members of Parliament are prevented from paid lobbying under the House of Commons Code of Conduct and the Code of Conduct for Members of the House of Lords. Advice on obligations under the Code can be sought from the Parliamentary Commissioners for Standards, in the case of MPs, or the Registrar of Lords’ Interests, in the case of peers. ↩