Appointments to the FRC's constituent Boards.

Dear Department for Business, Innovation and Skills,

Yesterday, at the Lib Dem conference, the Minister for BIS, Dr
Vince Cable, yet again used strong language in condemnation of
risk-taking bankers, and their culture of 'reward for failure'. The
vast majority of electorate and taxpayer would agree that too
little has been done to sanction those bankers responsible for the
financial crisis, which engulfs all our lives.

One of the bankers deemed seriously culpable was the Head of Risk
at Northern Rock Bank, Sir Derek Wanless. Sir Derek was severely
criticised by the investigating Treasury Select Committee for his
role in the Northern Rock Bank's collapse.

Today, Sir Derek Wanless sits on the part Treasury funded FRC's,
Board for Actuarial Standards (BAS). The BAS was established at the
behest of the Treasury in the wake of the Equitable crisis. Like
Northern Rock, Equitable Life was a failure of risk control and
provision. The role of the BAS is to provide guidance, control and
oversight, to the Pensions and Insurance industry, through the
setting of prudent protocols.

Senior appointments to the FRC are made by the Minister for BIS.

Please :

What representations have been made to the FRC by the Minister for
BIS in regard to the continuing appointment of Sir Derek Wanless in
this position ?

Could BIS please make the transcript of such representations
publicly available ?

What powers do BIS have to remove members of the FRC and its
constituent boards ?

What is the Honorarium fee paid to members of the FRC's constituent
Boards ?

Yours faithfully,

John Powell

Dear FOI Requests,

Below is the self-explanatory text of my recent FOI reply to HM
Treasury. It is pertinent, in that HM Treasury confirm the FRC is
grant-aided by BIS. Would you please be cognisant of my comments
when responding to my FOI request to BIS of 20 September 2011, as
yet unanswered.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/is...

'Thank you for your prompt and detailed FOI response. Your work in
this regard is much appreciated.

The question at the heart of this FOI request, of course, remains
unanswered. viz - the former Board Director and Head of Risk and
Audit at Northern Rock Bank was denounced by the All Party Treasury
Select Committee as culpable in the collapse of Northern Rock Bank,
which is now owned by the taxpayer. That same individual now has a
seat on the FRC's Board for Actuarial Standards (BAS), tasked with
setting prudential protocols for our pensions industry. That absurd
dichotomy needs to be addressed.

The fact that the FRC are not directly funded by the Treasury,
rather they are part grant aided by BIS is, you must surely accept,
a mere administrative nuance, and I would be remiss if I allowed
this to deflect the FOI request.

The Board for Actuarial Standards was established at the behest of
the Treasury in the wake of gross actuarial naiveté shown at
Equitable Life. The Northern Rock Bank was capitalised and
nationalised at enormous cost to the taxpayer, by the Treasury. The
Treasury provide the funding to BIS, which is then diverted by BIS
in grant-aid to the FRC. The Treasury Select Committee found that
the former Northern Rock Bank's Head of Risk and Audit had shown
judgmental shortcomings in the area of prudential actuarial
governance. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his ministers,
both in the current and former Governments, were unequivocal in
blaming the former Board of Northern Rock for its costly mistakes.
All of this, yet, the Treasury say that they have no record of any
representations to the FRC regarding this incongruous appointment.
Frankly, that news will be received with incredulity by taxpayers.

I have submitted a separate FOI request to BIS regarding their part
funding of the FRC, and enquiring therefore how the FRC can be
deemed to be a 'private' body. Given the Business Secretary's
trenchant views on culpability of the bankers in this financial
crisis, I will also be requesting the record of any representations
that have been made by BIS to the FRC, regarding the appointment of
Northern Rock's former Board Director and Head of Rick to one of
their constituent Boards. Irrespective of the semantic status of
the FRC, private or pubic, these questions appear entirely valid
for the taxpayer, and remain, as yet, unanswered'.

Yours sincerely,

John Powell

Dear FOI Requests,

Thank you for your response.

I have now received FOI replies from both HM Treasury and BIS,
which leave the writer in frustration at the Ministerial apathy
shown for converting their fine rhetoric into meaningful action.

In 2007/8 I, and many other taxpayers, will have viewed the
televised Treasury Select Committee witness meetings, and read the
Committee's Report on the collapse of Northern Rock. We were
informed that the old Board of Northern Rock, and not least the
bank's longstanding Board Director and Head of Risk and Audit
Committee, were in good part responsible for the crisis that now
engulfs us all.

It is discovered that the former Northern Rock Head of Risk and
Audit now has a seat on the FRC's Board for Actuarial Standards.
Surely, the skills required for this actuarial position are the
very antithesis of those deemed so wanting at Northern Rock ?

Yet, despite the thousands of words used by Ministers with deeply
furrowed brows at HM Treasury and BIS in condemning the culpable
bankers, it would appear that not a single word has been officially
uttered in expressing consternation at this incongruous
appointment, despite the taxpayer part funding the FRC, and the
Business Secretary having sole responsibility for senior
appointments.

To one taxpayer at least, politicians disingenuously spun words are
quite meaningless, if the message is not to be supported with
appropriate action. I am appreciative of the assistance provided by
the various FOI functions, although I will not disguise my dismay
at the outcome.

cc. HM Treasury FOI

Yours sincerely,

John Powell