The expansion of the board would also give OTS the opportunity to widen its knowledge base with an appointment of a director with strong digital experience, for example. The government also suggested that customer service was another important area which could add to the overall blend of board experience.

The government recommended that ‘the OTS secretariat should draw up, and agree with the OTS board, a skills and knowledge matrix that governs recruitment to the secretariat. An increase in the analytical and policy skills mix of the secretariat would add even greater rigour to OTS work, aid the OTS when engaging with policy officials and analysts and improve their output’.

Funding for OTS was confirmed for the next five years, with confirmation that the budget for the year April 2020 to March 2021 was £1,030,000, of which the pay element was £825,000. The work of the OTS is supported by a secretariat of 9.5 full time equivalent employees.