New watchdogs: public appointments commissioners

The Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) was described in the original Constitution Unit report (Gay and Winetrobe, 2003: 30-31) as one of the ‘nonstatutory Nolan watchdogs’ and is listed in Oonagh Gay’s chapter in this Report as one of the ‘Cabinet Office watchdogs’. These labels tell us only part of the story, however. While the office of the original, founding Commissioner remains non-statutory and part of the ‘Cabinet Office family’, the development of the OCPA system in the period since the 2003 report has produced two new Commissioners, neither of whom is directly linked to the Cabinet Office, and one of which has a statutory basis.