Guidance

Template 1: Lead Reviewer role specification

Updated 20 February 2024

Introduction

Lead reviewers are responsible for the direction and findings of the review, and provide assurance to ministers, the department and the public body that it has been conducted with a level of independence. Lead reviewers must be impartial, and be perceived as impartial. This is ensured by them being institutionally, and without any commercial or financial conflicts, separate from the public body being reviewed.

 Lead reviewers can be:

• a non-executive director or chair in a public body;
• a senior civil servant or equivalent, for example, a director within a different public body;
• a departmental non-executive director;
• a senior figure from the private sector with relevant industry experience; or
• alumni from any of the above roles.

Departments can also choose an individual to lead a review who is entirely external to the department, the public body, or government as a whole but who they feel is appropriately qualified (see below for a description of skills and experience) to undertake a review and is both impartial and perceived to be impartial.

Working arrangements

It is envisaged that this opportunity could often be undertaken alongside an individual’s current role, thereby avoiding undue burden on the individual or their organisation. The lead reviewer will be supported in their role by the review team.

Payment will be at the discretion of the department conducting the review. In general it is not expected that lead reviewers recruited via the Cabinet Office pool are paid.

Departments are encouraged to refer to the lead reviewer guidance for further information on recruiting and onboarding a lead reviewer.

Skills and experience

While recognising that public bodies vary significantly, the following sets out the range of attributes lead reviewers are likely to require. Departments will need to determine which are most relevant based on the needs of the review in question.

• A track record of providing scrutiny to large or complex organisations, whether through experience in audit, finance, consultancy, or in leading comparable reviews, for example for the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.
• An understanding of the different ways the government can deliver its priorities, including through public bodies.
• An understanding of public body sponsorship and lines of accountability in the public sector.
• An understanding of public finance and risk, including Managing Public Money, the Green and Orange books and the Public Value Framework.
• An ability to build effective relationships at the highest levels, to work in partnership with others along with the confidence and ability to challenge where appropriate.
• A strategic focus and ability to provide impartial oversight and delivery of the review’s aims.
• Politically aware and the ability to ensure such sensitivities are appropriately handled.
• An aptitude for analysing information and to make reasoned strategic recommendations that fulfil the aims of the review, and address any underlying issues in the department or public body.
• Experience of prioritising the customer or user in a project to ensure reviews add value and lead to better outcomes for the public.
• Experience of producing change in complex systems or industries.
• Experience of operational delivery.

The department responsible for the review may also want to consider if specific knowledge or experience are required to lead a review. For example, if the public body being reviewed is also a Public Sector Research Establishment (PSRE) then the department must ensure that the individual is suitably qualified and experienced, ideally with a background in or understanding of STEM and research-intensive fields. Departments should review the PSRE Value Framework when considering a review of a PSRE.

Role and responsibilities:

The lead reviewer will be responsible for ensuring a proportionate and objective review of the public body is conducted and that, as a result, recommendations are produced that will facilitate the continuous improvement of the public body if necessary.

The role and related time commitment for the lead reviewer will vary but is likely to include the following responsibilities:

• Agreeing the terms of the review with the department (this is likely to include):
  • agreeing the scope for the review based on early findings from the department including any views from the department’s ministers; and
  • agreeing terms of engagement with the review team, public body and department and its ministers.
• Leading the review team to complete the review in a timely, efficient and proportionate manner, ensuring Public Body Review Guidance is adhered to.
• Ensuring a strong focus on value for money throughout, including the use of HM Treasury guidance (for example, the Public Value Framework) as appropriate.
• Keeping a clear communication channel between themselves, the department and the public body, raising concerns where necessary.
• Engaging with the public body’s senior leadership. Keeping them sighted on progress, emerging findings and recommendations.
• Ensuring a representative and proportionate number of stakeholders are engaged and given the opportunity to feed into the review (this could include overseeing public consultation if deemed necessary).
• Overseeing the development of an evidence base to form the review; this may include looking at comparator bodies (including any international examples).
• Developing hypotheses and clearly articulating evidence-based findings in a clear, objective and proportionate report to the department.
• Delivering a set of feasible and risk-based findings and recommendations.
• Working with the department to communicate progress and outcome of the review to the Principal Accounting Officer and ministers, where necessary.
• Completing a ‘lessons learnt’ template to help future reviews. There is an expectation that departments share these lessons learnt templates with the Cabinet Office’s Public Bodies Team.