Some Whitehall departments are giving ministers an improper role in deciding on appointments to key civil service jobs, a top watchdog has found.

In her annual report Dame Rennie Fritchie, the commissioner for public appointments, said that four departments were privately showing shortlists of candidates to ministers.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Education and Skills, and the Department for Transport were involved in the poor practice, said the commissioner.

Best practice rules require that ministers should only be involved at the beginning of the appointment process to gain agreement on the job description and person specification - and at the end process when they are given a choice of appointable candidates.

Ministers can also interview each of the appointable candidates in some circumstances, call for the appointment process to be re-run or extended and may also be involved throughout the whole process if accompanied by an independent assessor.

But Dame Rennie found that the four departments were going beyond this practice.

"The commissioner's concern was that in at least four departments the longlist or shortlist was routinely shown on a private basis to ministers and she felt that this could lead to influencing or alteration taking place," said the report.

"This had the potential to breach several of her principles: openness and transparency; the involvement of independent assessors; equal opportunities; and appointment on merit."

The report also revealed that the departments were "not initially willing to cease this practice" and as a result the code of practice on appointments would be changed to bar such actions.

"I have said that, whilst I am not prepared to agree this addition to the process on its own, I would be prepared to explore whether there should be a remodelling or recategorisation of public bodies, which could identify some high-profile chair and deputy chair posts on which ministers would want to be given added assurance, and where appropriate arrangements could be set up in an open and transparent way," said the report.

Watchdog's powers

Dame Rennie also said she was "disappointed" that the government would not give her extra powers to report to parliament on cases where departments fail to comply with the code.

The change was backed in a recent report by the Commons public administration committee and has also been accepted in Scotland where a new appointments watchdog is being set up.

The commissioner also said she was "disappointed" that the committee's recommendation that her office should recruit and train all independent assessors was not accepted.

There are some 220 such assessors in England who are appointed by the departments whose appointments they are monitoring.

"Although we recognise that these independent assessors are doing excellent work, there is a question about the perception of their independence," said the report.

Civil service appointments

The report revealed that in 2003/04, ministers made over 2,800 appointments and re-appointments to the boards of public bodies.

Of those appointed some 35.6 per cent were women - a fall from the 39 per cent achieved in the previous 12 months.

There was also a slight fall, to 8.4 per cent, in the number of people being appointed who were from an ethnic minority.

And 3.2 per cent of those appointed and re-appointed in 2003/04 declared a disability, a slight increase from 2.7 per cent in 2002/03.

It was also announced that 15.2 per cent of those chosen for civil service jobs declared that they had been politically active during the previous five years, a fall from the 18.6 per cent in the previous year.

Of the 15.2 per cent who declared political activity, 9.2 per cent backed Labour, 2.9 per cent the Conservatives, 1.8 per cent supported the Liberal Democrats and 1.3 per cent for other parties including the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru.