Acoba axed: how the post-ministerial jobs watchdog proved ‘next to useless’
The article discusses the decision to scrap the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), a Whitehall body tasked with regulating the "revolving door" between public office and private earnings. Acoba has long been criticized as ineffective, with a 2017 parliamentary report describing it as "toothless." The rules governing Acoba's powers were deemed "dead in the water, next to useless, utterly pointless and in need of reform" by its final chair, Conservative peer Eric Pickles. The article suggests that Acoba could do little more than write letters to enforce its rules, rendering it largely ineffective in its role of overseeing the movement of former ministers and senior civil servants into private-sector jobs.
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