Junior health minister Gisela Stuart has indicated that the government is unwilling to accept a report by the commissioner for public appointments that concluded NHS boards have been 'politicised in a systematic way'.

At the Commons public administration committee, Ms Stuart described Dame Rennie Fritchie's report as 'quite useful', but immediately added: 'We do think she may have used anecdotal evidence to draw general conclusions and we would oppose the suggestion that the whole process is biased.'

Ms Stuart said she 'understood' that some people who were not reappointed after the general election 'may have been disappointed, but I think lawyers would describe them as hostile witnesses'.

Labour chair Dr Tony Wright said his committee had damned the previous [Conservative] government for 'stuffing boards with its members' so it was particularly 'damning' that Dame Rennie had given evidence that 'we have been doing the same thing'.

'We have the Nolan rules and we have the commissioner who polices the Nolan rules, and she says quite clearly that the rules are not being followed, ' he said. 'Either the government accepts it or rejects it.'

Ms Stuart said many of the recommendations of the Fritchie report were already in place and 'nobody comes in before independent sifting'.

But a key recommendation of Dame Rennie's report was that local MPs should not be allowed to comment on the shortlist sent to ministers after this process.

Ms Stuart admitted to Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten that she had been lobbied 'four or five times' about particular candidates, although she said this had not affected her decisions.

She said that if the system of asking MPs to comment on the shortlist 'leads to a perception that the system is unduly politicised, we are quite happy to write to MPs and say it is to stop'.

Conservative MP Michael Trend asked why ministers shouldn't be taken out of the process altogether.

Ms Stuart said the government's immediate response to the Fritchie report suggested 'devolving' responsibility for trust appointments to HAs and 'we think this is as far back as we think it is appropriate to go at this stage'.

Earlier in the session, NHS Confederation policy director (human resources) Andrew Foster said its 'principle complaint' about the 199798 appointment round had been delays in the process.

He trod a careful line on the wider issues, saying the Conservative government's reforms led it to appoint people with business skills, while Labour wanted a 'more community style for NHS boards with more links to local councillors'.

He said: 'To some extent the change from businessmen, who more than the population at large are Conservatives, to councillors, who more than the population at large are Labour, meant the change of complexion was inevitable.

Whether that is politicisation, I do not know.'

What Ms Stuart told the committee: There are 2,300 non-executive appointments to be made to trusts and 600 to health authorities.

She spends two evenings a week dealing with appointments in two regions - South East and South West - 'in peak season'.

Regional office recommendations are followed '80 per cent or more' of the time.