The Magic of Ministry: A first timer’s guide to the public sector non-executive role

The expectations placed upon non-executive directors (NEDs) in the UK’s public sector have risen exponentially in recent years. Boards are under ever increasing scrutiny and even non-executives face heightened levels of public accountability, particularly when compared with their private sector counterparts. The decision to take on a non-executive director role is therefore one that shouldn’t be approached lightly.

In 2018, we published ‘The Ministry of Magic: a first-timer’s guide to the public sector non-executive role’, a research piece that arose as a result of conversations with 30 non-executives and chairs from 25 different regulatory and public sector organisations, ranging from departments to agencies and non-departmental public bodies.

Since it was published, we have had the opportunity to welcome some of our interviewees as well as individuals from across the sector to a series of dinners held across the UK intended to further our understanding of what draws senior individuals to take on non-executive roles with public sector organisations and the challenges they face.

We are delighted to have welcomed so many, both familiar faces and new, to join us and discuss the huge benefits recruiting those with outside experience can bring. We have also been able to further explore the elements that chairs prioritise when looking to recruit a new NED to their board, and their experience of on-boarding those new to the sector.

Download the report here.  We hope you find it thought-provoking and would welcome your feedback and any additional insights you can share on this topic.

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