Page 12 – putting Principles into practice
Cllr Ruth Dombey OBE
Five gold stars if you can name all seven of the Nolan principles. But no stars if you know the principles are integral to your organisation but not sure what that means in practice.
Since the principles were established by the Committee on Standards in Public Life thirty years ago, they have become a recognised set of ethics for everyone in the public sector and beyond. They are frequently referred to, especially when there are issues around integrity and transparency and if challenged, most people would agree they lie at the very heart of public life.
But what does that mean in practice? What difference have they made to our ways of working?
Until recently I was the Leader of a London borough and I am still a councillor and immersed in the world of local government. As every councillor knows, we all sign up to our Council’s Code of Conduct when we are elected – and each time we are re-elected. These Codes vary slightly in different authorities but they are all based on these seven principles. Yet sadly, all too often in my peer work with local authorities across the country, I have seen them being overlooked or ignored.
This is one of the reasons I want everyone in public life to shout more loudly about the importance of the Nolan Principles and why I wanted to play a part in the work of the new Ethics and Integrity Commission, building on the careful work of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
So, hands up anyone who has read one of the Committee’s reports? And particularly the last one, published last year, about some of the biggest scandals of our time and the early warning signs that were there for everyone to see and were ignored until the damage had been done? Here’s the link if you’re interested:
And if you’re really too busy, I can make it even easier for you. Just have a look at Page 12 and the table that sums up all the aspects that these scandals have in common : failure to listen to and act on concerns raised by employees and/or the public (tick!), overly defensive organisational culture (tick!).The list goes on.
This is too important to be ignored. When the Nolan principles haven’t been put into practice, there are times when lives have been destroyed and people have died.
In my own Council I have asked for our Complaints procedures to be re-examined. Too often we focus on replying to the individual complaint in good time and resolving it as best we can. But who is looking at underlying trends? Who is taking a step back from the specific example and asking if there is a more widespread issue, something that needs probing further? And who is really listening to the complainants, the whistleblowers, the people on the front line who have spotted that something is going wrong?
The Nolan principles have stood the test of time. They are widely quoted and referred to, But they only have relevance if each and every one of us puts them into practice, demands more of ourselves and others and can feel confident they are truly shaping our behaviours and our actions.
Who wants a gold star? You can start with page 12.
Download Early Warning Signs Report
Find out more about the work of the Ethics and Integrity Commission