Recommendation 1
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The Civil Service should review its approach to enforcing ethical standards across government, with a view to creating a more rigorous and consistent compliance system, in line with the recommendation of the Boardman report.
Recommendation 2
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The government should pass primary legislation to place the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests, the Public Appointments Commissioner, and the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments on a statutory basis.
Recommendation 3
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The Ministerial Code should be reconstituted solely as a code of conduct on ethical standards.
Recommendation 4
Cabinet Office
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A requirement for the Prime Minister to issue the Ministerial Code should be enshrined in primary legislation.
Recommendation 5
Cabinet Office
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The Independent Adviser should be consulted in any process of revision to the Ministerial Code.
Recommendation 6
Cabinet Office
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The Ministerial Code should detail a range of sanctions the Prime Minister may issue, including, but not limited to, apologies, fines, and asking for a minister's resignation.
Recommendation 7
Cabinet Office
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The Independent Adviser should be appointed through an enhanced version of the current process for significant public appointments.
Recommendation 8
Cabinet Office
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The Independent Adviser should be able to initiate investigations into breaches of the Ministerial Code.
Recommendation 9
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The Independent Adviser should have the authority to determine breaches of the Ministerial Code.
Recommendation 10
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The Independent Adviser's findings should be published no more than eight weeks after a report has been submitted to the Prime Minister.
Recommendation 11
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The Business Appointment Rules should be amended to prohibit for two years appointments where the applicant has had significant and direct responsibility for policy, regulation, or the awarding of contracts relevant to the hiring company.
Recommendation 12
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The Business Appointment Rules should be amended to allow ACOBA and government departments to issue a ban on lobbying of up to five years.
Recommendation 13
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The lobbying ban should include a ban on any work for lobbying firms within the set time limit.
Recommendation 14
Cabinet Office
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The government should make adherence to the Business Appointment Rules an enforceable legal requirement for ministers, civil servants, and special advisers, and set out what the consequences for a breach of contract may be.
Recommendation 15
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
ACOBA rulings should be directly binding on applicants.
Recommendation 16
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
ACOBA should have the power to undertake investigations into potential breaches of the Business Appointment Rules, and be granted additional resources as necessary. The Cabinet Office should decide on sanctions or remedial action in the case of a breach.
Recommendation 17
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
Government departments should publish anonymised and aggregated data on how many applications under the Business Appointment Rules are submitted, approved, or rejected each year.
Recommendation 18
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The Cabinet Office should ensure the Business Appointment Rules are applied consistently across all government departments, and work with ACOBA to promote best practice and awareness of the rules.
Recommendation 19
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The Governance Code for Public Appointments should be amended to make clear that ministers should not appoint a candidate who is deemed unappointable by an assessment panel, but if they do so, the minister must appear in front of the relevant select committee to justify their decision.
Recommendation 20
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The Governance Code should be amended so that ministers must consult with the Commissioner for Public Appointments on the composition of all panel members for competitions for significant appointments.
Recommendation 21
Cabinet Office
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Senior Independent Panel Members should have a specific duty to report to the Commissioner on the conduct of significant competitions.
Recommendation 22
Cabinet Office
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Recommendation · source text
The chairs of ACOBA and HOLAC, the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, the Commissioner for Public Appointments and the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests should all be appointed through the process for significant public appointments, and the assessment panel for each should have a majority of independent members.
Recommendation 23
Cabinet Office
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Chairs of standards committees should chair assessment panels for the appointment of their independent members.
Recommendation 24
Cabinet Office
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Government departments should publish a list of all unregulated and regulated public appointments.
Recommendation 25
Cabinet Office
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The appointments process for Non-Executive Directors of government departments should be regulated under the Governance Code for Public Appointments.
Recommendation 26
Cabinet Office
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The Cabinet Office should collate all departmental transparency releases and publish them in an accessible, centrally managed and searchable database.
Recommendation 27
Cabinet Office
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The Cabinet Office should provide stricter guidelines on minimum standards for the descriptions of meetings and ensure compliance by government departments.
Recommendation 28
Cabinet Office
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The government should publish transparency returns monthly, rather than quarterly, in line with the MPs' and peers' registers of interests.
Recommendation 29
Cabinet Office
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The government should include meetings held between external organisations, directors general, and directors in transparency releases.
Recommendation 30
Cabinet Office
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The government should include meetings held between external organisations and special advisers in transparency releases.
Recommendation 31
Cabinet Office
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The government should update guidance to make clear that informal lobbying, and lobbying via alternative forms of communication such as WhatsApp or Zoom, should be reported to officials.
Recommendation 32
Cabinet Office
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The government should revise the categories of published information to close the loophole by which informal lobbying is not disclosed in departmental releases.
Recommendation 33
Cabinet Office
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Consultant lobbyists should also have to register on the basis of any communications with special advisers, directors general, and directors.
Recommendation 34
Cabinet Office
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Consultant lobbyists should have to declare the date, recipient, and subject matter of their lobbying.
No recommendations with this response.