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Standards matter: Ethical standards in public life, best practices and current threats* The Committee on Standards in Public Life, UK (Chair: Professor Lord Paul Bew) Introduction Standards of behaviour matter. They are particularly important where public money is being spent on public services or public functions. Citizens have a right to expect that holders of public office who take decisions which affect their lives should do so with impartiality, should be truthful about what they are doing and should use public money wisely. Society can expect better outcomes when decisions are made fairly and on merit and not influenced by personal or private interests. Organisations in every sector benefit from greater legitimacy when the public has confidence in their integrity. The UK economy benefits nationally and internationally from that confidence. The UK is not alone in encountering issues about standards in public life. There are two main sources of information about mature democracies. The first source is the evaluation reports produced at periodic intervals by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), established under the Council of Europe. The second main source of information about the UK’s relative standing on standards issues is Transparency International’s annually published Index of Perceptions of Corruption. Somewhat uncomfortably, the most recent index placed the UK joint 17th out of the countries surveyed in 2012 – well into the top quartile, but below a significant number of others in the developed world.1 The Standards Matter report (2013) set out our key conclusions, which we hope will be of assistance to those who find themselves having to grapple with these difficult issues on a daily basis. We have also identified a number of existing and emerging risks which we believe need to be addressed more energetically before we can be confident that high standards in UK public life are being consistently achieved. Background The seven principles of public life2 have been widely accepted as the basis of good practice throughout the public sector. They are mentioned explicitly in the UK, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Ministerial Codes, included in the corporate documentation of a large number of public sector organisations,3 and form the basis of the codes of conduct required of all local authorities. Some organisations, including the civil service, have adapted the principles to their own particular context.4 Overall, there has been a substantial increase in awareness of the importance of standards issues. Most public sector organisations now have codes of conduct based on the seven principles, adapted to their own circumstances. A number now pay greater attention than before to standards of behaviour in their internal systems, including recruitment, induction and training. Many have improved mechanisms for bringing lapses in standards to light, though people who raise or escalate concerns are not yet consistently treated with the respect they deserve.5 There is now extensive documentation about values and conduct in the NHS6 and, among others, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) have issued ethical guidance for their members.7 This increased focus on ethics has been replicated beyond the public sector. Many private sector corporations have adopted codes of conduct or statements of values with which their staff are expected to comply. In professional services there have been major efforts to improve the quality of self-regulation. Examples of professional regulatory bodies established during this period include the Bar Standards Board (2006), the Solicitors’ Regulatory Authority (2007) and the General Pharmaceutical Council (2010). Other existing bodies have taken forward work on ethical standards. These include the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, which has published two revisions of a new code of ethics (in 2006 and 2011), and the General Medical Council, which is currently reviewing its guidance on Good Medical Practice (last published in 2006). A number of regulators have been created, reformed or had their remits or powers changed or enhanced. New regulators include the Electoral Commission, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, the Lords Commissioner for Standards, the Independent * Some key messages from the Fourteenth Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (UK), presented to parliament by the Prime Minister David Cameron, January 2013. Commonwealth Governance 46 Handbook 2013/14


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