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This is the first major study of non-executive board members in Whitehall, assessing their contributions in and outside departmental board meetings.
We began by compiling a database of every non-executive board member and their backgrounds. We then reviewed published information about the work of non-executives and in summer 2017 we conducted 70 interviews of board members: non-executives, ministers, senior officials and stakeholders. With Cabinet Office support, we also issued an online survey to non-executive board members and, in October 2017, we held a private seminar at the Institute for Government to discuss our emerging findings.
In January 2018, we published Critical Friends? Non-Executive Directors on Whitehall Boards. We found that non-executives are high calibre, committed people, whose expertise is greatly valued by the civil service. Non-executives, however, find the role frustrating and feel they could be much more effective if the system only allowed.
