Business appointment rules advice: October to December 2023

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Summarises details about former Ofgem staff, at senior levels SCS1 and SCS2 and its equivalents, who have left the civil service. This includes the conditions under which their new employment (paid or unpaid) was approved. These rules apply for either one or two years after leaving, depending on the role.

Ofgem issued a decision on three applications submitted under the business appointment rules between October to December 2023.

Jamie McRorie

Full name of applicant: Jamie McRorie

Title of former civil service role: Deputy Director, Enforcement and Systems Legal Team

Date left or retired from the civil service: 31 October 2023

Name of new employer: Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP

New appointment or employment (including when taken up): Legal Services (6 November 2023)

Department’s decision on application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied):

  • a restriction on lobbying Ofgem (as defined in the business appointment rules)
  • a restriction on advising on a bid with, or contract relating to the work of, Ofgem; and
  • in all cases, a restriction on drawing on any privileged information (as defined by Advisory Committee on Business Appointments) available to the applicant as a result of their role at Ofgem (this is for a period of two years)

The above does not include making legal representations in the normal course of Jamie’s professional role and in relation to matters he was not previously advising Ofgem.

Richard Smith

Full name of applicant: Richard Smith 

Title of former civil service role: Interim Chief Operating Officer

Date left or retired from the civil service: 1 November 2023 

Name of new employer: Energy UK

New appointment or employment (including when taken up): 13 November 2023 

Department’s decision on application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied):

The following restrictions should apply: 

  • a restriction on drawing on any privileged information (as defined by Advisory Committee on Business Appointments) available to RS because of his role at Ofgem
  • for the avoidance of doubt, RS shall not use, share or disclose any information obtained or accessed or knowledge gained during his employment with Ofgem relating to any licensee other than Energy UK or any other energy sector roles or related companies, whether or not those licensees are in direct competition with Energy UK or any other energy sector roles or related companies, whether or not that use, sharing or disclosure is to the benefit of Energy UK or related companies and whether or not that information is also subject to s105 of the Utilities Act 2000
  • a restriction on becoming personally involved in lobbying Ofgem for 2 years (as defined in the Business Appointment Rules)

The above applies for two years after the last day of paid service and it applies to any appointment or employment within that period.

Niall McDonald

Full name of applicant: Niall McDonald (NM)

Title of former civil service role: Interim Deputy Director, Chief Engineer

Date left or retired from the civil service: 30 November 2023

Name of new employer: SSEN Transmission

New appointment or employment (including when taken up): 1 December 2023

Department’s decision on application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied):

Prior to appointment

  • NM stays in the engineering team, but team managers will report to PB rather than NM
  • PB will assume the role of leading the engineering team in the interim alongside his director role
  • NM will relinquish any involvement in transmission related activities. NM must ensure an orderly handover in relation to relinquishing these roles
  • NM will continue assisting PB in other engineering duties during his notice period, supporting the team on electricity distribution and gas related activities etc and continuing as PDL
  • NM will be deployed onto work of a one-off project nature suitable for his level and his capabilities that will not present an actual or apparent COI
  • on data access, NM must not access information about SSENGET/SPT in historic emails or stored openly on SharePoint
  • IT will create a new email address and OneDrive. NM will move non-Tx related content to the temporary account to enable continued working in these areas, following which the current email account should be archived. Email material held on the temporary account will be checked to ensure no electricity transmission content is included
  • key external stakeholders and internal teams will be made aware of the situation, and be given instructions on which areas of work the applicant should and should not be involved in
    Ensure NM has no decision-making roles in relation to these or any other Ofgem’s work programmes for the remainder of his time at Ofgem. He will stop attending key meetings (such as GEMA, SLT, management meetings) and he will work from a separate email account

Post appointment

  • a restriction on drawing on any privileged information (as defined by Advisory Committee on Business Appointments) available to NM as a result of his role at Ofgem. For the avoidance of doubt, NM shall not use, share or disclose any information obtained or accessed or knowledge gained  during his employment with Ofgem relating to any licensee other than SSEN or SSE PLC or related companies, whether or not those licensees are in direct competition with SSEN, SSE plc or related companies, whether or not that use, sharing or disclosure is to the benefit of SSEN, SSE PLC or related companies and whether or not that information is also subject to s105 of the Utilities Act 2000
  • a restriction on becoming personally involved in lobbying Ofgem for two years (as defined in the business appointment rules)
  • a restriction on any work related to the individual’s previous work with Ofgem particularly related to those of SPT and NGET learned though his employment with Ofgem
  • he is restricted from participating in any work where his knowledge of Ofgem, its business dealings, sensitive matters related to its strategy or any projects on which he has worked could be used directly against Ofgem’s interests without first having agreed with PB (or his nominee) whether any specific conditions linked solely to relevant privileged or commercially sensitive information to which NM has had access are appropriate