Applications for the chair of the UK Statistics Authority close today, amidst uncertainty over whether the Cabinet Office is aiming high enough to attract the right candidate.

The last front-runner retired hurt after a bruising encounter with the Public Administration Select Committee. Dame Janet Finch withdrew after discovering her ideas of independence didn’t coincide with those of the committee, which has become increasingly influential in public appointments.

Those who have applied this time round are unlikely to suffer the same fate. A member of parliament (I’m assuming a member of PASC) has been included in the panel which will interview the candidates, so whoever is successful is likely to get through the subsequent  confirmation hearing with less hassle the Dame Janet did.

The panel also includes a senior Cabinet Office official, a key independent user of economic statistics, and a member representing wider users. None of these people are named on a website the Cabinet Office appears to have set up for the purpose, but the panel is wider and much more representative than the Marndarin-heavy one that indentified Dame Janet as their preferred candidate.

PASC will see this, rightly, as a step forward in advancing Parliament’s role in making important appointments.  On 14 July the House of Commons Liaison Committee, whose membership includes the chairs of the House’s select committees, published a report, Select Committees and Public Appointments, which listed the “top jobs” where it said appointment should effectively be a joint decision between the Government and the House. This list included – indeed was headed by – the post of Chair of UKSA.

By including a member of PASC on the selection panel the Cabinet Office has both made a concession in this direction and at the same time gone some way towards insuring itself against a second rebuff. The Liaison Committee report says that PASC issued no report on Dame Janet but had an “implicit negative opinion” about her independence. She’s not alone: Diana Fulbrook was rejected by the Justice Committee in May 2011 as HM Chief Inspector of Probation, and Dr Maggie Atkinson by the Children, Schools and Families Committee in October 2009 as Children’s Commissioner. All women, I note.

There are still some question marks over whether the position has been sufficiently widely advertised or is well-enough rewarded. David Lipsey, the Labour peer who chairs Straight Statistics,  has today questioned the government about the arrangements.

In a question for written answer, he asks the government “what advertisements were placed for the Chair of the Statistics Authority before Sir Michael Scholar’s appointment; and what salary was offered” and “To ask the government where advertisements have been placed for Sir Michael’s replacement; and what salary is offered.”

Underlying the questions is a concern in the statistics community that the government is seeking to downgrade the status and independence the job. The salary and time commitment falls far short of the £150,000 a year Sir Michael Scholar was paid when he first took the job.

The best answer to these questions is for the selection process to produce an outstanding candidate. We should see white smoke emerging some time in November – the final interviews are set for the week beginning 7 November.