Decision

Advice letter: Ivan Hooper, Independent Consultancy

Published 10 May 2021

October 2020

1. BUSINESS APPOINTMENT APPLICATION: LIEUTENANT GENERAL IVAN HOOPER

The Committee has been asked to consider an application from Lieutenant General Ivan Hooper (Lt Gen Hooper), former Chief Executive Office of Joint Forces Command, Information Systems and Services (ISS) at the Ministry of Defence (MOD), on establishing an independent consultancy.

2. The Committee’s role and remit

The purpose of the Rules is to protect the integrity of the Government. Under the Rules, the Committee’s remit is to consider the risks associated with the actions and decisions he made during Lt Gen Hooper’s time in office, alongside the information and influence he may offer clients, based on the information provided by Lt Gen Hooper and his former department, the MOD.

The Rules set out that former Crown servants must abide by the Committee’s advice. It is an applicant’s personal responsibility to manage the propriety of any appointment. Former Crown servants are expected to uphold the highest standards of propriety and act in accordance with the 7 Principles of Public Life.

3. The Committee’s Consideration - Independent consultancy

When considering Lt Gen Hooper’s application to set up an independent consultancy, the Committee^{[footnote 1]} took into account that his proposed work is closely related to his time in office - drawing on his knowledge and experience from working with the MOD.

With all applications related to the area for which applicants worked in office, there are inherent risks. As CEO of ISS, Lt Gen Hooper will no doubt have access to information that may be seen to benefit any company operating in the areas for which he held responsibility at MOD, including those operating in defence IT and cyber security. However, the Committee recognised there are several mitigating factors here. The MOD confirmed it has no concerns about his access to sensitive information because: a significant amount of time has passed since he was in post at MOD with access to any information (15 months); the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on changing policy and priorities; the naturally fast pace the defence cyber/IT industry; and the continuous development of strategy and approach as a result. Therefore, the MOD considered the risk of him having specific sensitive information that can be used to the unfair benefit of his future clients is low. The conditions the Committee has imposed below prevent the use of any privileged information from his time in office.

Given his proposed areas of consulting, there could be questions about whether he could give his new clients an unfair advantage regarding his influence and network of contacts within the MOD and the UK Government. The conditions below prevent lobbying and providing advice on contracts and bids related to the MOD.

4. Future commissions

The Committee is mindful of the risks attached to Lt Gen Hooper setting up a consultancy closely related to his time in service. Whether the conditions set out below can sufficiently mitigate the risks presented by any future commission Lt Gen Hooper proposes to take up will depend on the specific details of each piece of work. Further conditions may be appropriate, for example, should he seek to work on matters he had direct responsibility for in the MOD, the Committee would consider whether a waiting period may be required. The Committee will consider such risks on a case by case basis. As is usual in such cases, Lt Gen Hooper will need to seek advice from the Committee for each commission he wishes to accept.

The Committee will consider with each commission whether the restrictions below sufficiently mitigate the risk attached and will decide whether each commission is consistent with the terms of the consultancy, considering any relevant factors under the Business Appointment Rules. The Committee would draw his attention to the fact that, in particular, the nature of any work in the UK defence sector will need particular consideration. The Committee will consider such risks on a case by case basis.

When seeking work and/or commissions, Lt Gen Hooper is advised to adhere to the conditions below.

The Committee’s recommendation to the Secretary of State for Defence is that, under the Government’s Business Appointment Rules, Lt Gen Hooper’s application to set up an independent Consultancy be subject to the following conditions:

• that he should not draw on (disclose or use for the benefit of himself or the organisations to which this advice refers) any privileged information available to him from his time in Crown service;

• for two years from his last day of Crown service he should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK Government, the UK MOD on behalf of his clients (including parent companies, subsidiaries and partners); nor should not make use, directly or indirectly, of his MOD or government contacts to influence policy, secure funding/business or otherwise unfairly benefit his clients (including parent companies, clients, subsidiaries and partners);

• for two years from his last day in Crown service, he should not provide advice to any company or organisation on the terms of, or with regard to the subject matter of, a bid or contract with, or relating directly to the work of, the MOD or its trading funds; and

• for two years from his last day in Crown service, before accepting any commissions for his independent consultancy and or/before extending or otherwise changing the nature of his commissions, he should seek advice from the Committee. The Committee will decide whether each commission is consistent with the terms of the consultancy and consider any relevant factors under the Business Appointment Rules.

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.”

I would be grateful if you would ensure that we are informed as soon as Lt Gen Hooper’s consultancy is live, or if it is announced that he will do so (I enclose a form for this purpose). We shall otherwise not be able to deal with any enquiries, since we do not release information about appointments which have not been taken up or announced, and this could lead to a false assumption being made about whether he had complied with the rules.

I should also be grateful if you would ask that Lt Gen Hooper informs us if he proposes to expand or otherwise change the nature of his consultancy, depending on the circumstances, it may be necessary for him to make a fresh application.

Once Lt Gen Hooper’s consultancy is live and/or he has announced this is the case, we will publish this letter on the Committee’s website and in the relevant annual report.

5. Annex - Material information

5.1 Responsibilities in office

Lt Gen Hooper was CEO of Information Systems and Services (ISS) and Joint Forces Command from March 2017 to July 2019. Lt Gen Hooper was Chief Executive Officer of the organisation providing Information Technology (IT) services and equipment to the UK military both to the corporate organisation and deployed military forces. He was also responsible for the provision of defensive cyber capability for the UK Ministry of Defence. Delivery of major IT projects and programmes and the provision of live IT services. Leadership of a combined military and civil service organisation.

In 2019 ISS and a number of organisations were brought together as Defence Digital, replacing what was ISS.

Lt Gen Hooper’s last day in post was 31 July 2019 and his last day in Crown Service was 9 December 2019.

5.2 The application

Lt Gen Hooper states that in setting up this independent consultancy, he intends to work in defence and other sectors, in advisory and non-executive roles. This will include: strategy development; risk management; international market access, growth and penetration; leadership and delivery of major programmes; and executive team and organisational leadership development. Lt Gen Hooper said as CEO he was not responsible for relevant long term strategy or policy.

Lt General Hooper informed the Committee he left his ‘…post [as CEO] on 31 July 19 and from that time until leaving the Army on 9 December I was on a combination of resettlement training; terminal leave; and accrued leave. I had no role in support of the MoD; had no access to any MOD information from my previous roles; and I only entered MoD property for administrative purposes - for example to hand in uniform’.

5.3 Departmental views

The MOD Business Appointment’s Panel considered Lt Gen Hooper’s application and confirmed the information he provided.

The MOD said it does not believe Lt Gen Hooper had specific access to information relating to this work in the light of the time that had passed, because:

• the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuous development of strategy and approach due to the recent MOD and wider government work on the ongoing Integrated and Spending Reviews, most of which has been done since Lt Gen Hooper left employment with the MOD;
• ‘the naturally fast pace’ the industry works to; and
• since his leaving, there have also been a number of new hires into the Defence Digital leadership team.

The MOD said Lt Gen Hooper oversaw ‘…the panoply of Defence ISS infrastructure and procurement’. Further, it said Lt Gen Hooper did have access to commercially sensitive information on major Defence suppliers. The MOD said due to his involvement in procurement there is a risk some commissions he wishes to undertake in future could involve a high risk of reward. However, it recommended the Committee apply the restriction that requires Lt Gen Hooper to return to the Committee on all future work. Therefore, this risk can be assessed on a case by case basis.

The MOD Business Appointments Panel reward recommended this application be subject to the conditions below:

• He should not draw on (disclose or use for the benefit of himself or his prospective employer or their subsidiaries partners or clients) any information available to him from his time in Crown Service which could reasonably be perceived to give them an unfair advantage over competitors;
• He should not make use, directly or indirectly, of his Government and/or Crown Service contacts, or contacts developed during Crown Service in other Governments or organisations, to influence policy or secure funding or business on behalf of himself or his prospective employer or their subsidiaries partners or clients for two years from his last day in Crown Service.
• He should not provide advice to any company or organisation on the terms of, or with regard to the subject matter of, a bid or contract relating directly to the work of the MOD or its trading funds for two years from his last day in Crown Service
• He must seek prior clearance from ACOBA for each commission under the terms of his consultancy that he wishes to take up.

1. This application for advice was considered by Sir Alex Allan; Johnathan Baume; The Rt Hon Lord Pickles; Richard Thomas; Lord Larry Whitty; John Wood and Dr Susan Liautaud ↩