Can seconded state officials or civil servants work for NPMs?

NPM staff should be institutionally and personally independent from state authorities. Although it is not an ideal situation, in some cases (particularly for budgetary reasons) civil servants are seconded to work for the NPM to provide support and to reduce costs. In this situation, the staff should be entirely dedicated to NPM work, and should not report to their ministry or department of origin. Confidentiality of information acquired in their capacity as NPM staff should be respected during and after their tenure.

A guarantee of the independence of seconded staff could be to ensure that secondments are only long-term. During the secondment, the staff should only be accountable to the NPM. Furthermore, the seconded member of staff should be selected following a clear, transparent, merit-based process and at the discretion of NPM members.

In any case, leadership and decision-making positions in the NPM should not be help by seconded staff.