Report No. 37 of the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector recommended significant changes in the system of remuneration for chief executives of commercial State bodies, to be linked to changes in contract arrangements, performance-related pay, publication of remuneration information and corporate governance.
In relation to corporate governance, the review body concluded that the system of selection and remuneration of directors would require review in order to ensure that each board had sufficient directors with the particular expertise required to enable them to serve meaningfully on a remuneration sub-committee. To this end, it specifically recommended that:
appointments to the boards should be made solely on the basis of the experiences, competence and expertise of the persons concerned;
there should be an appropriate number of executive directors; as a first step, chief executives should be appointed to the boards; each board should have a suitable civil servant appointed to it;
revised arrangements should be introduced to give chairpersons a greater role in the appointment of all other new directors; and
the timing and duration of board appointments should be structured to avoid expiry of the terms of office of a large number of directors at the same time.