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Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Times
Sir Edward Osmotherly obituary: civil servant who defined role of committees
The present system of having a cross-party 'select' committee of backbench MPs to scrutinise the work of each government department was introduced in 1980, during Margaret Thatcher's first term as prime minister. The committees were empowered to summon and cross-examine ministers, but their powers regarding civil servants were less clear-cut. To what extent could officials be held accountable, and how much could they be expected to reveal? After all, their job was to advise ministers and implement government policy — not to decide it. To resolve that question Edward Osmotherly, a courteous, well-respected, old-school civil servant in the Machinery of Government Division of the Cabinet Office was asked to develop a set of guidelines which became known as the 'Osmotherly Rules' and have largely survived to this day. They stipulate that civil servants are not directly accountable to parliament and cannot be summoned by select committees; if their appearance is disputed, their minister should attend instead. The rules also cover other potentially problematic situations. Can a select committee summon a retired civil servant? Do civil servants enjoy parliamentary privilege? At what point does the cost of them supplying information become excessive? Are they covered by sub judice laws? Can they withhold and redact evidence on national security and public interest grounds? Osmotherly believed the select committee system was an essential component of a parliamentary democracy, and his rules struck a balance between the rights of the committees and those of civil servants. He was rewarded for that, and for a lifetime of public service, with a knighthood in 2002, and by having a rodent-catching cat named after him by the Cabinet Office in 2016. Edward Benjamin Crofton Osmotherly was born in Down Hatherley in Gloucestershire in 1942, the second child and only son of Crofton and Elsie Osmotherly, both teachers. He was raised in East Ham, east London, and attended the local grammar school where his academic talent secured him a place at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. After graduating with a degree in history and anthropology in 1963, he joined the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, and within three years was serving as a ministerial private secretary. One of his ministers, Bob Mellish, liked to relax in a sauna at the end of the week and expected Osmotherly to accompany him with his box of official papers. In 1970 he married Valerie Mustill, his boss's daughter. They settled in north London where they had a daughter, Zoe, who works as an administrator at a barristers' chambers, and a son, John, a technician at University College London. In 1972 Osmotherly won a year-long Harkness fellowship which took him to the Brookings Institution in Washington and — after a road trip across the US — to the University of California at Berkeley. On his return he joined the Department of the Environment, spent a year on secondment to the board of British Railways, and in 1980 joined the Cabinet Office where he was given the task of developing what a journalist dubbed the 'Osmotherly Rules'. In 1982 he joined the Department of Transport where he occupied several senior roles over the following decade and was closely involved in the privatisation of British Railways during John Major's premiership. In 1993 he left the civil service after 30 years, but remained a public servant. He spent eight years as a local government ombudsman, investigating complaints against local councils. He also chaired a review of ways to improve the government's business statistics. His report was published in 1996, and led to the creation of the independent Office for National Statistics through a merger of the Central Statistical Office and the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. Finding himself bored after leaving the ombudsman's job, he became an adviser to the European scrutiny committee of the House of Commons — one of the committees to which the Osmotherly Rules applied. He finally retired in 2010, and indulged his love of reading. A few years later he was diagnosed with a rare form of dementia called posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) which affected his sight and spatial awareness but not, at least to begin with, his memory and cognitive abilities. In 2018 he participated in a research project at University College London where he was asked to perform tasks such as painting lines on a canvas with motion sensors attached to his body. There he was interviewed by Fergus Walsh, the BBC's medical correspondent. The project was 'much more fun than a drug trial', he joked before issuing a heartfelt plea to the public: 'Please talk to people with dementia as if they were human beings. Don't be frightened of them.' Sir Edward Osmotherly, civil servant, was born on August 1, 1942. He died of PCA dementia on February 18, 2025, aged 82
RNZ News
25-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Pay equity changes: 'People's select committee' formed to gather evidence instead of 'high-flying cliches'
Dame Marilyn Waring. Photo: Supplied Former National MP Dame Marilyn Waring has gathered a group of female former MPs to hold their own 'people's select committee' on the government's pay equity changes . The unofficial committee is rounded out with former MPs Jackie Blue, Jo Hayes and Belinda Vernon from National, Nanaia Mahuta, Lianne Dalziel, Steve Chadwick and Lynne Pillay from Labour, Ria Bond from New Zealand First and Sue Bradford from the Greens. All are working on a 'pro bono' - unpaid - basis. Independent consultant Amy Ross, previously the Public Service Commission's lead on pay equity, and former Parliamentary librarian and researcher Bessie Sutherland would provide additional research support, and would be paid. Dame Marilyn said they were planning to hold their first session, hearing from submitters, in Wellington on 11 August with subsequent sittings via Zoom to allow for submitters to attend from around the country. All sessions would be public. She said they would be aiming to gather the evidence the government should have. "I sat in a Parliament that was bedeviled by urgency under Muldoon... on many occasions. But my beef here is, where was the evidence? "I'm sure it's there, but it has not had a vehicle for publicity. It has not been brought together in a consolidated, rigorous way for people to make their own decisions, as opposed to just listening to a lot of kind of high-flying cliches." The changes sparked protests nationwide. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi Some of the submitters on the original bill - like Business NZ - had changed their minds without explaining why, she said. "We can see that 600 people or groups made submissions the last time the legislation was up for amendment, and we'll be sorting through those to invite key people who made submissions business New Zealand, EMA (Employers and Manufacturers Association), a whole range. "We'll be inviting the 33 groups whose claims were effectively disbanded by this legislation, and we will hope to write a report for the public and for you all by Christmas." While they would be unable to compel people to appear as Parliament could, they could offer confidentiality and anonymity to some submitters, she said. "I expect from both the public and private sector that things will 'fall off a truck'," she said. While the Public Service Association (PSA), the Council of Trade Unions and Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens were also providing support, Dame Marilyn said the idea was entirely hers. The former MPs gathered in less than a week. "It was all my initiative. I did have a friend inside the PSA with whom I was corresponding about the legislation... and she said to me, can you think of anything? So I went for a long swim - which is when I think - and by the time I'd finished the swim, I thought, 'We'll have a select committee.' "I started making calls on the seventh [of May], and it was over by the 12th." She rejected any suggestion the committee's view was already bedded in, saying they would look at the changes made by the government and the evidence for and against. "No. It's an evidence-gathering mission," she said. "There's going to be a really sound report. The government says that it wants to progress pay equity claims, the opposition is saying that it will rescind this and again address the legislation. So we're doing them all a good turn." However, they did appear to agree that the process the coalition had taken in passing the legislative changes was inappropriate. "Well, that's exactly how I couched my invitation to them - that we wanted evidence." She said they were negotiating with Speaker Gerry Brownlee, hoping to hold the first session at Parliament - but Parliament itself would not be providing any organisational support. Finance Minister Nicola Willis. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said they were "enormously proud" to be supporting the initiative, and would be making their own submission, "however, this should not have been necessary". "The government - without any signaling during the election campaign and no ability for women to have their say in a select committee - committed constitutional vandalism and wage theft on a national scale. We really want the opportunity to be heard about how we achieve pay equity for New Zealand women," she said. PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone "The government say they want to achieve that too, so they should have nothing to be scared of in setting up their own select committee. However, given they are unwilling to do that at this stage, we're very supportive and welcoming of this 'people's select committee'." In a statement, National Council of Women spokesperson Dellwyn Stuart said the women's organisations that made up their membership were shocked by "the arrogance displayed by the coalition government". "This government is gaslighting women. It says one thing, and does the opposite. They have executed, under stealth, the biggest setback for women in 35 years. "Through this people's select committee a vital platform for women's voices will be restored, and we encourage women and their representative organisations to make submissions." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
