BLOG: A trustworthy government must embrace openness
While the British public’s trust in politicians has never been high, recent surveys show it is in decline and is now among the lowest in Western Europe.
The Prime Minister is only too aware of the crisis in public trust and set out a vision on his first day in office for how he will do government differently, take power to the people and change politics for the better. He has committed to putting the right values and standards at the heart of government.
High ethical standards matter and have a direct impact on the public. The failings following the Hillsborough disaster are a stark example of the indescribable harm inflicted when the public interest is sidelined in favour of closing ranks and denying the truth. Other examples such as the Horizon Post Office scandal and Infected Blood show that most failings can be traced directly back to poor ethical standards.
As Chair of the Ethics and Integrity Commission, I wrote the first annual letter to the Prime Minister on the health of standards in public life last week; a responsibility assigned to the EIC when it was established a year ago. Our assessment is that we are at a pivotal moment for standards reform. We have seen positive steps and a desire from the Government to improve standards, but momentum has slowed. We are concerned that opportunities for major improvements to the arrangements for upholding ethical standards in government are at risk of being lost.
A trustworthy government must embrace openness. What is being done for the public and in their name must be visible. Only then can the public have confidence that decisions are being made in their interest.
The Prime Minister now has a blueprint on his desk for delivering greater transparency around lobbying. The EIC, established by the Labour government to promote high standards in public life, published its first review in July. We heard from a range of contributors and produced an evidence-based report that recommended a fresh approach to lobbying regulation. We called for a register of all lobbying activity, supported by an AI-enabled digital platform that consolidates this data with government records of the meetings held by departments. This will not only support scrutiny by the media on behalf of the public, but also provide the Government with a clear picture of who is lobbying whom across its various departments.
The current lobbying system fails the Nolan Principle of Openness. It is limited in scope to consultant lobbyists (which we heard are responsible for just 4 – 6% of the lobbying that takes place) and government transparency data is patchy and disparate. It is simply not sustainable to maintain the status quo. Our recommendations offer an opportunity to correct longstanding weaknesses in lobbying regulation that consecutive governments have failed to address.
Lobbying is an integral part of a functioning democracy, but a lack of transparency creates the impression that vested interests are unfairly influencing decisions about policy, legislation or contracts and that other groups without the same deep pockets or networks are excluded.
Without the changes we have recommended, the government leaves itself vulnerable to the next lobbying scandal. Aside from damaging public trust, scandals absorb a huge amount of time and resources – energy that is far better spent focusing on delivering public services to the British public.
The EIC’s first letter on the health of standards in public life does not paint a bleak picture. Positive steps have been taken in areas such as local government, political finance and the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards. But there is much further to go. The Prime Minister’s personal leadership is now needed to accelerate standards reform and to ensure that the Principles of Public Life – selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership – remain at the heart of government and our public services.
Doug Chalmers
