Davies: No jobs for the boys

Shake up for Welsh Quangos

In future, posts will be advertised widely and candidates appointed strictly on merit.

"I want to ensure that the whole process of public appointments is open to scrutiny and is fully accountable" said Mr Davies. By opening appointments up to public advertising and selection against objective and publicly-stated criteria, we can put behind us the days of `jobs for the boys' and people appointed on the basis of who they knew or where they had lunch," he said

Mr Davies said he wanted to encourage applications from more women and from members of ethnic minorities. Both had been under-represented in public appointments.

Appointments must be above suspicion

"I want to make sure our that our public appointments are above suspicion and favouritism or closet patronage - and most importantly of all that we have people who are highly skilled and committed to the jobs they do in public service," he said.

The changes follow Labour's promise in the general election campaign to reform a system which became a long-running and bitter political issue in Wales, with allegations of patronage under the previous government. In the new procedure, more than 1,000 members serving on around 100 key quango bodies may also have to compete for reappointment when their term of office