Martin Donnelly

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Martin Donnelly CMG is a former senior UK civil servant who was Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills from October 2010 and later the Department for International Trade until April 2017.

Since retiring from the civil service Donnelly has taken up new positions in the private sector, including one as a senior adviser from January 2018 with lobbying consultancy firm Teneo. Other roles included as an adviser to Llewellyn Consulting, trustee at the Gingerbread charity, wisiting academic, Hertford College, University of Oxford and board member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Background

Donnelly was previously Member of the FCO Board of Management, the 'Director General for Globalisation' [1] working with Andrew Cahn. Organisation consultants, Stanton Marris, were drafted in to help with reconfiguring the FCO [2]. [3]. Donnelly is part of the Recruitment sub-group and also has a connection to the Chevening Scholarship programme [4] which "targets the future generation of leaders, decision-makers and opinion-formers", as part of the FCO/British Council public diplomacy initiative. [5] [6]

Previously, Donnelly held positions as the Policy Director of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office, responsible for the beleaguered asylum and immigration policy, and Deputy Head of the Cabinet Office European Secretariat, coordinating the Government's European policies and reporting to the Prime Minister from 1998 to 2003. In 1995 Donnelly worked on monetary issues, government debt and economic and monetary union in Europe. In 1989 Donnelly went to Brussels as a member of the personal staff of Leon Brittan, European Commission Vice President, and was responsible for work to set up the European internal market in financial services [7]

He had been appointed permanent secretary in October 2010, following the departure of Simon Fraser CMG, on 26 August 2010. [8]

Senior adviser to Teneo

According to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments in January 2018:

Sir Martin sought advice on taking up an appointment as Senior Adviser at Teneo, a paid and part-time role. He will be supporting the organisation in providing consulting services, including risk management, to firms (with an international focus) at Chief Executive level.
The Committee noted Sir Martin had no contact with Teneo whilst he was in office. He explained that he had some contact with high level contacts with UK based businesses whilst in office, but that they were not contract related. Further, his dealings with accountancy and consultancy firms did not include engaging with international consultancies, or with their commercial activities in the UK. As such, the Committee considered there is no evidence to suggest the role could reasonably perceived [sic] as a reward.
Sir Martin notes that his role will be internationally focussed and he does not expect to have contact with the UK Government. In addition, Sir Martin has explicitly stated that he will not lobby Government on behalf of Teneo (and has advised Teneo that he will be precluded from doing so). The Department has also confirmed that Sir Martin has no commercially sensitive information about Teneo or its competitors. As such, the risk that Teneo could potentially gain an unfair advantage as a result of Sir Martin’s role is considered low. However, the Committee recognises Sir Martin has spent a number of years in senior positions within Government and has made it clear in the conditions imposed that any use of the contacts he has in Government, to the of advantage Teneo, would be inappropriate. [9]

Meetings with outside interests

Nuclear spin.png This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch.

In July 2013 the press reported that in his role as business department permanent secretary Martin Donnelly had had 36 meetings with outside organisations and one with a lobbyist in 2012. [10]

This included introductory meetings with firms with nuclear interests: Babcock in February 2013[11] and EDF Energy in December 2011. No details, however, are available on what was discussed at either meeting. [12]

Affiliations

References

  1. ↑ The German British Forum 1994-2006 Speakers: Martin Donnelly
  2. ↑ Stanton Marris 2007 Case Studies
  3. ↑ The German British Forum 1994-2006 Speakers: Martin Donnelly
  4. ↑ British Council 2002; 20 July 2004 Chevening Reception: Latham Lawn Trinity Hall Accessed 2 Sep 2007
  5. ↑ Third Report from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 2005-6, PUlbic Diplomacy, Response of the Secretary of State for foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
  6. ↑ Civil Service, 7 May 2007 DCN Sub-groups
  7. ↑ University of Toronto 2007 2005 G8 Pre-Summit Conference: Speaker Biographies
  8. ↑ New Permanent Secretary for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, BIS/COI 11 October 2010
  9. ↑ Advisory Committee on Business Appointments Decision Summary of business appointments applications - Sir Martin Donnelly, gov.uk Updated 30 January 2018, accessed same day
  10. ↑ Patrick Wintour, Call to broaden register of lobbyists as new figures show extent of meetings, The Guardian, Thursday 11 July 2013 19.25 BST, acc 12 July 2013
  11. ↑ DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS, 01 JANUARY 2013 – 31 MARCH 2013, MEETINGS WITH EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS (INCLUDING MEETINGS WITH PROPRIETORS, EDITORS AND SENIOR MEDIA EXECUTIVES)
  12. ↑ DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS, 01 OCTOBER 2011 – 31 DECEMBER 2011, MEETINGS WITH EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS (INCLUDING MEETINGS WITH PROPRIETORS, EDITORS AND SENIOR MEDIA EXECUTIVES), acc 29 October 2013
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