Letter from ACOBA to the Cabinet Office regarding a breach of the Rules (Installio)
Updated 2 October 2025
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The Rt Hon Darren Jones MP Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
Dear Mr Jones,
I am writing to you in my capacity as Interim Chair of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) regarding a failure to follow the government’s Business Appointment Rules (the Rules) in respect of announcements of Lord Callanan’s appointment at Installio.
The Committee is independent, with a remit to consider applications received under the Rules, consider the risks and advise on the conditions that should apply.
The Rules are set by the government, with the policy owned by the Cabinet Office. The requirement for former ministers to seek and abide by ACOBA’s advice is set out clearly in the Ministerial Code, including specifically that: ‘…Former Ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the Committee has been able to provide its advice.’
Lord Callanan, former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance) at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, is listed as a Non-Executive Director at Installio – a UK-based company that works to support the adoption of clean heating by providing heat pump installers. Before ACOBA’s advice was sought, the appointment was announced on several platforms, including on Installio’s LinkedIn profile. The role has also been announced in an article by renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk and on Lord Callanan’s Register of Interests page.
Lord Callanan did not respond to the ACOBA secretariat’s request for an explanation of these announcements.
The government’s Rules state that new appointments must not be announced, or taken up, before advice is provided. ACOBA’s final letter to Lord Callanan is enclosed.
The Ministerial Code and government’s Rules are clear that an application for advice is required for all outside roles, irrespective of potential limitation in the risk. The government owns both the Rules and their enforcement. It is now a matter for government to decide what the appropriate action to take is.
It is the Committee’s policy to act transparently, including making public any failure to follow the Rules that it is made aware of – correspondence on this matter will be published on our website.
Isabel Doverty Interim Chair ACOBA
Copied to:
The Rt Hon Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office;
Simon Madden,Director of Propriety & Ethics, Cabinet Office;
Lord Callanan.
Enclosures:
- ACOBA’s final letter to Lord Callanan