Stand up, you Spads, and be accountable Spads are meant to help senior ministers with the kind of political matters that civil servants cannot touch, whether briefing the media or injecting a party line into policy. Nearly everyone agrees that, as such, they play a crucial role. So what goes wrong? One problem is that they are... well, cronies. To become a Spad you need to know someone in the party of your choice who will take you on. A survey by the magazine Civil Service World found that 89 per cent of the current crop of Spads had worked for their party HQ or for an MP. Most Spads are young with little experience of anything much. They tend to have been in marketing, lobbying or media relations before joining the Westminster bubble. Once in government, they are thrown in at the deep end: they have no training, they are not accountable to anyone except their ministers and the jobs they do vary enormously from one department to another. The really scary thing is that so many Spads go on to hold the highest offices: David Cameron, George Osborne, Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls all started as Spads, and all are still young. Roy Hodgson, the new England manager, is 64. A trend for people of proven ability in government would be welcome. In the past, Labour chancellor Denis Healey had been the beach-master at Anzio. Today, Labour leaders are more likely to be asked whose side they were on in the war between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. If Spads are the leaders of the future, a rethink is needed urgently, particularly given the public's distrust of the political elite. For a start, it may be time for Spads to come out of the dark - and not just when they are at the centre of a scandal. The Commons" Public Administration Select Committee is embarking on an inquiry into Spads. One of the questions it will ask is whether they should be subject to pre-appointment scrutiny by MPs. This might enable those of a more dubious character to be weeded out early on. Had Andy Coulson faced the prospect of being cross-examined by MPs, Mr Cameron might have thought better of appointing him. Public scrutiny could also encourage the idea that Spads should have some experience and achievements to their name in other fields besides politics, before they are given jobs in the heart of government. Once appointed, they could appear regularly before MPs. Spads have to command the confidence of their ministers and they need to share their political views. Yet why should the jobs not be advertised? This would widen the pool and be far fairer. The parties could reject those deemed unsuitable. As it is, the likes of Nick Clegg are always complaining about the wicked middle classes giving internships to the sons and daughters of people they know. Let them follow the same even-handed principles with jobs that are in their gift. We could even look at Spads being picked from the ranks of elected backbench MPs. We have far too many junior ministers. Indeed, civil servants often have to spend time inventing things for this lowly form of ministerial life to do. Cut the number of junior ministers - in line with the planned cut in the number of MPs - and give promising backbenchers Spad jobs. It would at least close the democratic deficit. Appraisals for Spads, by civil servants reporting to ministers, might also help to regulate this increasingly important cadre. The Coalition started by promising to restrict the number of Spads but the numbers - 81, at the last count - are now back up above where they were when Labour left office. The Coalition should not wait for the next scandal. Spads should be brought out of the shadows now.