BRIEFING PAPER Number 04888, 27 May 2015
Committee on Standards in Public Life
By Lucinda By Lucinda Maer
Inside: 1. Origins and status of the Committee 2. Work, membership and impact
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Number 04888, 27 May 2015
Contents Summary
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1. 1.1 1.2 1.3
Origins and status of the Committee Establishment and terms of reference The Seven Principles of Public Life Status
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2. 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4
Work, membership and impact Approach of the Committee Chairmen and Membership Reviews Recent reports
Cover page image copyright: CRI-1564 by UK Parliament/Mark Crick image. image . Licensed under CC BY 2.0 / 2.0 / image cropped.
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Summary This paper sets out the background to the creation of the Committee on Standards in Public Life in 1994, and the subsequent broadening of its terms of reference in 1997. The paper also looks at its constitutional position and relationship relationship to Parliament. The Committee on Standards in Public Life’s L ife’s original terms of reference were, “To examine current concerns about standards of conduct of all holders of public office, including arrangements relating to financial and commercial activities, and make recommendations recommendations as to any changes in present arrangements which might be required to ensure the highest standards of propriety in public life”. In 1997 the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, widened the terms of reference to cover the funding of political parties. Recent reports have covered transparency around lobbying and research on public perceptions of standards in public life in the UK and Europe. Previous topics covered have included standards in local government, ethics and accountability in policing, and the funding of political parties and the role of the Electoral Commission. The Committee is an advisory non-departmental public body. Its current chair is Lord Bew, who was appointed in September 2013 for a five year term. The appointment appointment of the chair is subject to a pre-appointment hearing by the Public Administration Select Committee. The Committee was subject to a triennial review in February 2013 which recommended that topics of research should reflect emerging issues, that improving public trust was not in itself part of the Committee’s role, and that its biennial research on public attitudes should be discontinued and public hearings used only only sparingly. The Committee’s annual budget was reduced by 20% from 2012-13 to 2014-15.
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1. Origins and status of the Committee 1.1 Establishment and terms of reference The establishment of the Committee on Standards in Public Life L ife (CSPL) was announced in October 1994 by the then Prime Minister, John Major. In his statement, announcing the establishment of the Committee in October 1994, Mr Major said: I have decided to establish a body with the following terms of reference: "To examine current concerns about standards of conduct of all holders of public office, including arrangements relating to financial and commercial activities, and make recommendations as to any changes in present arrangements arr angements which might be required to ensure the highest standards of propriety in public life." ….. The body needs to be able to respond quickly and to be sufficiently flexible to deal with the wide range of issues I have outlined. I have, therefore, decided to establish stand ing machinery to examine the conduct of public life and to make recommendations on how best to ensure that standards of propriety are upheld. It will contain prominent individuals who have practical experience of Parliament and public life, but also others with expertise and knowledge of our principal institutions. Lord Nolan, a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, has accepted my invitation to chair this committee. I have invited the Leader of the Opposition and the leader of the Liberal Democrats each to nominate a member of the committee, and I shall announce the full membership shortly. I hope that the committee will be able to produce at least a first report covering the main areas of current concern within six months, and then stay in being as a standing body to advise the Government of the day. 1
Further terms of reference were added by the next Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in November 1997 to cover the funding of political parties: “To review issues in relation to the funding of political parties, and to make recommendations recommendations as to any changes in the present arrangements”. 2 Two further amendments were made to the terms of reference on 5 February 2013: The Government agree that in future the Committee should not inquire into matters relating to the t he devolved legislatures and governments except with the agreement of those bodies. Secondly, the Government understands the Committee’s remit to examine ‘standards of conduct of all holders of public office’ as encompassing all those involved in the delivery of public services, not solely those appointed or elected to public office. 3
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HCDeb 25 Oct 1994 c757-758. c757-758. HCDeb 12 Nov 1997 c899. c899. 3 HCDeb 5 Feb 2013 c7WS 2
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The Committee’s terms of reference were further clarified in a House of Lords written Parliamentary Question on 28th February 2013 to explain that the Committee’s remit means it “can examine issues relating to the t he ethical standards of the delivery of public services by private and voluntary sector organisations, organisations, paid for by public funds, even where those delivering the services have not been appointed or elected to public office”. 4
1.2 The Seven Principles of Public Life The Committee produced an initial report, Standards in Public Life , and created the seven principles of public life (often known as the ‘Nolan principles’, after Lord Nolan, the Committee’s first chair). 5 Box 1: Seven Principles of Public Life 1. Selflessness Holders of public office should act solely in t erms of the public interest. 2. Integrity Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other oth er material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships. 3. Objectivity Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, u sing the best evidence and without discrimination or bias. 4. Accountability Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must subm it themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this. 5. Openness Holders of public office should act and t ake decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing. 6. Honesty Holders of public office should be truthful. 7. Leadership Holders of public office should exhibit these pr inciples in their own behaviour. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and be willing to challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs. 6
The Seven Principles were accompanied by three ‘threads’ intended to establish the principles in practice:
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HLDeb 28 Feb 2013 cWA347 Nolan Committee, Standards in Public Life , Cm 2850 I, May 1995. A summary of the report is available online. online. 6 See Cabinet Office, The seven principles of public life , 1995 5
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Those three threads are codes of conduct, i ndependent scrutiny, and guidance and education. We think Lord Nolan’s original suggestions of guidance and education remain valid means of embedding ethical standards… 7
1.3 Status The Committee is an advisory non-departmental non-departm ental public body. The Committee and its Secretariat are funded by, but independent of, the Cabinet Office. Its remit extends to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but the Committee consults the separate executives of these constituent parts of the UK where appropriate. The Committee’s website lists its responsibilities as follows: •
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advising the Prime Minister on ethical issues relating to standards in public life; conducting broad inquiries into standards of conduct; making recommendations as to changes in present arrangements; promoting the 7 principles of public life. life .
Our remit does not allow us to t o investigate individual allegations of misconduct. 8
Sir Alistair Graham, the then Chair, and Richard Jarvis, the Assistant Secretary, of the Committee appeared before the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) on 27 April 2006 in connection with its inquiry on Ethics and Standards. 9 The Committee on Standards Standards in Public Public Life submitted a written memorandum to PASC, which briefly described the reasons for its establishment and its remit, and set out the results of its recommendations. recommendations. In oral evidence, Alastair Graham gave further details: First on status, it is important to t o stress that the committee is not a regulator. We are an independent committee which provides public policy advice to the Prime Minister on issues of et hics and propriety. We do not have any executive or regulatory powers or functions. Our line of accountability is to the Prime Minister and, through him, to Parliament, and he, in turn, is accountable for standards of conduct within government. Our role to provide public policy advice to the Prime Minister essentially, therefore, defines our status. The committee's remit is a wide one: to provide policy advice on standards of conduct of all public office holders, elected and appointed, central and local; and this is not, I believe, a remit that is duplicated by any other body. This remit means that, in addition to providing advice about standards of conduct within the Executive, the committee also has a role in providing public policy advice about standards of conduct in Parliament, and here our advice is given through the Prime Minister to Parliament. 10
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Committee on Standards in Public Life, Annual Plan 2014-15 , 2014, p.8 See Committee on Standards in Public Life, About us 9 Public Administration Select Committee, Committee, Ethics and Standards , Corrected Transcript of Oral Evidence (27 April 2006), 6 June 2006, HC 884-iv 2005-06 10 Ibid. 8
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2. Work, membership and impact 2.1 Approach of the Committee The Committee’s programme of work takes the form of inquiries leading to published reports. Their approach has most recently been set out in their 2012-15 Strategic Plan: The choice and scope of our inquiries will be informed by our assessment of the importance of the issue, the scope for a distinctive and authoritative contribution and its potentia l impact. In each inquiry we will aim to identify concrete recommendations which will ensure the highest standards of propriety in public life. After reports have been delivered we will continue to follow up on our recommendations, as appropriate, to monitor the extent of their implementation and the effectiveness of the measures taken. 11
The Committee’s focus in 2012-15 included matters such as the Ministerial Code, electoral fraud, the media and public trust, party political funding, and standards in local government. No forward plan for the period after 2015 has been published at the time of writing. The Committee described its operational approach in its 2006 written evidence to PASC as follows: 2.1 The Committee is free to choose choose subjects of inquiry, but only after consultation with the Cabinet Secretary, on behalf of the Prime Minister (to whom the Committee reports). Inquiries are conducted using a rigorous, evidence-based and entirely open approach with written submissions posted on the Committee's popular and much-used web-site, public hearings held throughout the United Kingdom; and a final public report with its recommendations and including all of the evidence collected during the Inquiry. 2.2 Committee Inquiry Reports are presented to the Prime Minister and through him to Parliament as a published Command Paper. The Government then publishes its response to the Committee's recommendations, again through a Command paper (ideally within three months) and this is often subject to a debate in both Houses of Parliament. 2.3 The effectiveness of of the Committee is derived from: •
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its ability to re-visit sensitive and challenging policy questions; a membership which mixes open competition (a Chairman and six members) with nomination by the t he leaders of the major parties (three members); and reporting directly to the Prime Minister.
The Committee is committed to a non-confrontational, non- confrontational, inclusive style, though it recognises that occasional tension between Government and watchdog is something to be expected. 12
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CSPL, CSPL Strategic Plan 2012-15 , October 2012, p. 7 Public Administration Select Committee, Committee, Ethics and Standards: the regulation of conduct in public life , HC 121-II 2006-07, 2007, Ev104
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2.2 Chairmen and Membership The Committee is currently chaired by Lord (Paul) Bew, professor of history and politics at Queen’s University Belfast, who will chair the committee from 1 September 2013 to 31 August 2018. Previous chairs are: David Dav id Prince Princ e Christopher Kelly KCB Rita Donaghy Sir Alistair Graham Gra ham Sir Nigel Wicks Lord Lord Nei Neill of Bl Bladen aden QC Lord Nolan
1 Apr 2013 - 31 Aug 2013 1 Jan 2008 - 31 Mar 2013 May 2007 - Dec 2007 26 Apr 2004 - 26 Apr 2007 1 Ma r 2001 - 23 Apr 2004 10 Nov Nov 1 19 997 - 28 28 Feb Feb 2011 1 Nov 1994 - 9 Nov 1997
Members of the Committee are appointed by the Prime Minister. The practice has not been to offer chairs re-appointment. 13 None has served a second term, although other members are re-appointed. The full membership of the Committee can be found on its website. website . Three party political members are appointed, on the recommendation of the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats. The Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) conducted a preappointment hearing hearing of Lord Bew’s Bew’s appointment. appointment. It approved his appointment, publishing a report in 2013. 14 In his evidence to PASC, Lord Bew stated his preference for the Committee’s investigations to become more strategic and subject-oriented and less focused on other individual bodies, in the context of budget reductions; but he committed to maintaining the Nolan principles at the core of the Committee’s work. He saw the t he Committee’s role as “build[ing] up consensus… on a research basis, to deal with certain ethical questions”. 15 This reflected two of the recommendations of the Triennial Review (see section 2.3 below): a)
The CSPL should be more strategic - reviewing systems -and should avoid overlapping with the work of sectoral regulators.
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The Committee should be bolder in picking topics, looking ahead to emerging problems, rather than reacting to scandals and allegations of ethical abuses which have already emerged. 16
2.3 Reviews A quinquennial review on the Committee was published in January 2001. 17 It concluded that the Committee had successfully mapped out 13
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See Public Administration Select Committee, Ethics and Standards: The Regulation of Conduct in Public Life [Government Government response], HC 88 2007-08, 2007, p. 8 Public Administration Select Committee, Committee, Appointment of the Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life , HC-516 2013-14, 2013 Public Administration Select Committee, Committee, Appointment of the Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life , oral evidence, 9 Jul 2013, HC 516-i, Q13 Cabinet Office, Report of the triennial review into the Committee on Standards in Public Life , 2013 , p. 1 Cabinet Office, Report of the Quinquennial Review of the Committee on Standards in Public Life , January 2001, HCDeb 5 Feb 2013 c8WS
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an ethical framework, but there remained a continuing need to monitor the ethical environment and to respond to issues of concern which might arise. The review considered that in future there would be less scope for the Committee to review aspects of public life on a continuous basis. It recommended no change in the structure or composition of the Committee. However, as proposed by the review, the secretariat subsequently fluctuated in size according to workload. A further triennial review was published on 5 February 2013. 18 It recommended that, in addition to consulting with the Prime Minister, the Committee should also consult with the Public Administration Select Committee and the House of Lords Constitution Committee regarding its work programme. 19 It also recommended that: •
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Topics of research should reflect emerging issues, instead of reacting to controversies; Improving public trust or confidence is not itself part of the Committee’s role; The biennial research on public attitudes should be discontinued, and public hearings, which had been poorly attended, should be used only sparingly in the future; A pre-appointment hearing before the Public Administration Select Committee should take place when a new Chair is appointed (see above).
The Triennial Review was critical of members of the Committee commenting in the media. The Review did not recommend that this should cease entirely, however: for instance, Lord Bew made comments in February 2015 to the effect that candidates for election to the House of Commons should be required to disclose whether they planned to have a second job whilst in Parliament. 20 The Review also advanced the view that the Committee’s influence had declined over the years, mainly as a result of a number of new ethicsand standards-related bodies having been established and c ompeting for space with it. 21 It recommended a reduction of the Committee to seven members. At the time of writing there are nine. The Committee’s annual budget was reduced by 20% from 2012-13 to 2014-15. The Chair is expected to serve for 2-3 days per month, but until 2013, the time commitment was greater, at approximately two days per week. The Government’s 2011 Public Bodies Review specified that all NDPBs should, in future, undergo triennial reviews. 22 This would imply a further triennial review of the Committee reporting in 2016.
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Cabinet Office, Report of the triennial review into the Committee on Standards in Public Life , 2013. See also the Written Statement on 5 February 2013. Cabinet Office, Report of the triennial review into the Committee on Standards in Public Life , 2013, p. 2 Daniel Boffey, “MP ethics chief: tell voters about your second second jobs”, The Observer , 28 February 2015 Ibid., p. 10-11 See Cabinet Office, Triennial Reviews: Guidance on Reviews of Non-Departmental Public Bodies , 2014
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2.4 Recent reports The Committee has ranged over a wide range of subjects during its existence. These include standards in local government and on boards of executive NDPBs; reviewing the funding of political parties and the role of the Electoral Commission; Commission; surveying best practice on promoting standards and ethical conduct; 23 ethics and accountability accountability in policing; and carrying out surveys of public attitudes. 24 Links to the Committee’s publications can be found on its website. website . Strengthening g Transparency Around The Committee’s 2013 report Strengthenin Lobbying made a number of recommendations regarding lobbying of people in public office. Amongst these were that public officials should ensure that they know the identity of the person lobbying them; that they should decline all but the smallest gifts; and that the recommendations recommendations of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards made in 2012 should be implemented by the House of Commons. 25 In February 2015, the Committee reiterated its view that action should be taken by the Commons, stating that the House of Lords had implemented many of its recommendations: recommendations: The House of Lords has taken action to address our recommendations including introducing a statement of p rinciple on how to deal with lobbyists, lowering the threshold for registering gifts and hospitality from £500 to £140 and introducing a new Code of Conduct for Members’ Staff with requirements to register interests in parliamentary lobbying and abstain from lobbying or using access to Parliament to further outside interests in return for a payment or other reward.26
Changes to the House of Commons Code of Conduct were approved by the House, without debate, on 17 March 2015. 27 In 2013 the Committee published Standards Matter: A review of best practice in promoting good behaviour in public life . This report stated that: •
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All aspects of an organisation’s procedures should be regularly reviewed to assess their effects on ethical behaviour; The achievement of high ethical standards should be certified in annual reports and regularly discussed by the boards of public organisations; Ethical standards should apply to those who are responsible responsible for public service provision, even if they are not in the public sector: this should include independent scrutiny and sufficient powers to impose sanctions for unethical behaviour;
See Committee Committee on Standards Standards in Public Life, Life, Standards Matter , Cm 8519, January 2013 24 See the final survey, Survey of public attitudes towards conduct in public life 2014, 2014, 25 March 2015 25 These recommendations recommendations were made to the House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges: see the appendix to the report Proposed Revisions to the Guide to the Rules relating to the conduct of Members , HC-636 2012-13, 6 Dec 2012 26 Committee on Standards Standards in Public Public Life, Life, “Lobbying: current arrangements are not enough”,, 11 February 2015 enough” 27 HCDeb 17 Mar 2015 c706
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Public office-holders should should lead by example in terms of ethical behaviour and promote robust systems to identify wrongdoing.
In 2014, the Committee published a research report entitled Public Perceptions of Standards in Public Life in the UK and Europe . The headline findings were: •
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Despite widespread beliefs that corruption is a problem in most countries… very few people report recently being asked or expected to pay a bribe to a public official. People’s perceptions of national and local public institut ions are largely the same... Levels of trust in representative institutions (such as parliament and political parties) tend to be lower than in administrative institutions (such as the judicial and police services)… Levels of trust in political institutions often rebound after general elections, however this increase tends not to be sustained… Levels of trust in political institutions may suffer at times of political crisis, such as the fall of the Ital ian government in 2008, and the British MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009 … Citizens across Europe tend to believe that t here is insufficient transparency in and supervision of the financing of political parties … Levels of satisfaction with government tend to fluctuate more than levels of satisfaction with democracy…. Perceptions of the judicial and police services tend to be largely positive and have tended to fluctuate less than perceptions of representative institutions since these were first measured in the 1980s... 28
Committee on Standards Standards in Public Public Life, Life, Public Perceptions of Standards in Public Life in the UK and Europe , 2014, p. 5-6
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BRIEFING PAPER Number 04888, 27 May 2015
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