Decision

Advice letter: Jo Churchill, Business Development Adviser, Alan Boswell Group Limited

Published 14 January 2026

1. BUSINESS APPOINTMENT APPLICATION: Jo Churchill, former Minister of State (Minister for Employment), Department for Work and Pensions – Paid appointment as a Business Development Adviser, Alan Boswell Group Limited

Thank you for your application, under the Government’s Business Appointment Rules for Former Ministers (the Rules), for my advice on joining Alan Boswell Group Limited in a business development role. 

The purpose of the Rules, as you will be aware, is to protect the integrity of government and to avoid any suspicion that those who have served in government might profit improperly from that experience or that an employer might gain unfair advantage through privileged access to government. To achieve these aims, I designate conditions that former ministers must follow. 

The material information and my consideration are set out in the annex. In light of this, I consider the following conditions to be appropriate, recognising that it is your responsibility to ensure that these are demonstrably applied in practice:

• Privileged information condition – You should not draw on (disclose or use for the benefit of Alan Boswell Group Limited, related parties and clients) any privileged information available to you from your time in ministerial office. This is an ongoing duty irrespective of the time elapsed since you left office.

• Lobbying condition – For two years from your last day in office, you should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK Government or its arm’s length bodies on behalf of Alan Boswell Group Limited (including related parties and clients); nor should you make use, directly or indirectly, of your contacts in the government and/or ministerial office to influence policy, secure business/funding or otherwise unfairly advantage of  Alan Boswell Group Limited (including related parties and clients).

• Contracts and bids condition – For two years from your last day in office, you should not undertake any work with Alan Boswell Group Limited (including related parties and clients) that involves providing advice 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 or its arm’s length bodies.

• Business development restriction - For two years from your last day in office, you should not become personally involved in lobbying contacts you acquired during your time in office in other governments and organisations for the purpose of securing business for Alan Boswell Group Limited (including related parties and clients). 

I would be grateful if you would note the following points:

• My advice is not an endorsement of the appointment.

• The advice relates solely to your previous role in government; it is 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. It is your personal responsibility to understand any other rules and regulations you may be subject to in parallel with my advice.

• By ‘privileged information’, I mean official information to which you had access as a consequence of holding office and which is not publicly available. You are also reminded that you may be subject to other duties of confidentiality, whether under the Official Secrets Act, the Ministerial Code or otherwise.

• As set out in the Rules, the lobbying restriction means that former ministers ‘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’.

As soon as you take up the appointment, or if it is announced that you will do so, you are obliged under the Rules to inform my secretariat who will then publish this letter. 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.

Yours sincerely,

Sir Laurie Magnus CBE

Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards

2. Annex – Material information and consideration of the risks 

2.1 The role

You wish to take up a paid, part-time business development role at Alan Boswell Group Limited (ABG), an East Anglia based independent insurance broker that provides advice on insurance, risk management and financial planning. The role involves using your business experience, local knowledge and contacts to enhance the company’s business profiles and connections in the region. 

You confirmed that you will have no contact with government in this role. 

2.2 Dealings in office

You said you neither met with, nor made any policy, regulatory or commercial decisions specific to, ABG. You stated that you had no access to information that could unfairly advantage the company.  

2.3 Departmental assessment

DWP confirmed the details you provided in your application, including that you had no access to information that could offer an unfair advantage and that you made no decisions specific to the company. The department had no concerns and recommended the standard conditions.

2.4 My consideration of the risks 

You made no policy, regulatory or commercial decisions specific to ABG, and DWP has no concerns over your access to privileged information – this limits the risks.

As an insurance broker, ABG will have an interest in government policy. You have confirmed that you will not have contact with government and I note that, as described, your role does not include lobbying. In view of this, I find that the risks here are appropriately mitigated by the standard lobbying and contracts and bids condition. 

You will likely have a wide network from before you entered government. However, you will also have contacts acquired as a result of your ministerial role and there is a risk that you could be seen to advantage ABG unfairly were you to draw on such contacts to secure business on ABG’s behalf. I have therefore applied a restriction that prevents you from lobbying any contacts acquired solely from your time in office for the purpose of securing business for ABG.