Hello, I’m Doug Chalmers, Chair of the Ethics & Integrity Commission. I want to give you a short update on what we have been doing and what you can expect from us in the months ahead.
One of our major workstreams is our ‘Codes of Ethical Conduct project’. Lord Nolan highlighted the importance of codes in bringing the principles of public life to life for those in public service. They have therefore always mattered to us. The forthcoming Public Office (Accountability) Bill, more widely known as the Hillsborough Law, makes it a statutory requirement for public authorities to adopt and maintain formal codes of ethical conduct with the intent of ensuring that their culture enables their people to do the right thing for the right reasons.
This project will establish the EIC as the centre of excellence on these codes, providing public authorities with advice on what makes for an effective code of conduct and, more importantly, on how to embed it so that it shapes the authorities decision making culture.
Our Call for Evidence closes on the 27th September. If you’ve had experience of designing and embedding a code of conduct, we’d love to hear from you.
We intend to publish our initial advice when the bill receives Royal Assent. That will then be updated and added to over time.
Meanwhile, the Commission’s review into the public sector ombudsman system has made good progress.
We would like to thank the many contributors to the review whose perspectives have been invaluable.
Our recommendations are taking shape, and we look forward to publishing the full report next year.
Our report into Lobbying, Business Appointment Rules, and Disclosure, which we published in July, landed well and we look forward to receiving the government’s official response in the near future.
Next month will, in line with our Terms of Reference, see us publish our first annual letter to the Prime Minister on the health of standards in public life.
To close, the EIC has been hard at work these last few months, and we look forward to sharing our advice, findings, and recommendations with you over the coming months.
Thank you.