MPs pick new PACAC chair

Jackie Doyle-Price will lead watchdog panel after William Wragg's resignation
Jackie Doyle-Price

By Jim Dunton

09 May 2024

Conservative MP Dame Jackie Doyle-Price has been picked to chair parliament's Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee following the resignation of William Wragg.

The Thurrock MP was previously a member of the influential committee, which is a key voice on the effective working of government, between 2020 and 2022.

Doyle-Price beat PACAC member Tom Randall in a ballot of all MPs yesterday. The pair were the only candidates seeking to succeed Wragg.

Wragg stood down from PACAC, which is also a strong voice on probity and ethics, after he admitted being pressured into sharing contact details for other MPs by someone he had sent compromising images to on a dating app.

Wragg also resigned the Conservative Pary whip later last month, meaning he now sits as an independent MP.

Reacting to her election as PACAC chair, Doyle-Price said she was "delighted" to have the opportunity to lead the committee in its work examining constitutional issues and the quality and standards of public administration.

"Respect for our institutions of government requires that we subject them to robust challenge," she said.

"I look forward to chairing the committee’s ongoing inquiries into the important constitutional issues of the day, including devolution capability in Whitehall, membership of the House of Lords, and civil service leadership and reform.

"I intend to use the time left in this parliament to ensure that the necessary questions are asked to uphold good governance and appropriate cultural behaviour within the institutions of government."

Before becoming an MP in 2010, Doyle-Price had a career in public administration, working for South Yorkshire Police, Sheffield Enterprise Agency, City of London Corporation and the Financial Services Authority.

She was a junior minister at the Department of Health from June 2017 to July 2019 and briefly served as a junior minister at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in prime minister Liz Truss' short-lived government in September and October 2022.

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