1 Introduction
1. The Ministerial Code is now established as the
rule book on ministerial conduct. Our predecessor Committee first
considered the Code in a report of February 2001.[1]
That report considered questions around the status and ownership
of the Code, its purpose, and whether there should be a distinction
between principles of ministerial conduct and simple procedural
guidance. It also highlighted the need for an independent investigatory
capacity to give fair consideration to any claims that the ethical
standards in the Code were not being met.
2. The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL)
has also had occasion to consider the Ministerial Code on more
than one occasion. Most recently, that Committee recommended in
2003 that two new offices should be created to ensure that standards
of ministerial conduct were acceptable. The first proposal was
that there should be, as our predecessors had recommended, independent
investigation of alleged breaches of the Ministerial Code. The
second proposal was that there should be an independent office-holder,
called an Adviser on Ministerial Interests, to provide advice
to ministers on compliance with those sections of the Ministerial
Code which cover the avoidance of perceived and actual conflicts
of interest. The CSPL also suggested that a list of ministerial
interests should be published.[2]
3. The Government accepted the case for an adviser
on ministerial interests, but not for an investigator of alleged
Code breaches.[3] After
a lengthy delay, in March 2006 the then Prime Minister appointed
Sir John Bourn (the then Comptroller and Auditor General) as the
first Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests. His terms
of reference included the suggestion that the Prime Minister "may
ask the Independent Adviser to establish the facts in certain
cases concerning the Ministerial Code and to provide private advice
to him".[4] However,
several controversies around the conduct of various Cabinet ministers
had already led us to inquire once again into how ministerial
misconduct was investigated. In July 2006, notwithstanding the
recent appointment of Sir John Bourn, we found that there was
a definite need for an investigator with sufficient independence
from government to secure public confidence:
Making provision for an independent investigatory
mechanism for alleged breaches of the Ministerial Code is long
overdue. Its establishment would benefit not just public confidence
but also the interests of the Prime Minister, the government and
especially those at the centre of allegations who deserve a fair
hearing.[5]
4. One of the first acts of the Rt Hon Gordon Brown
MP on coming into office as Prime Minister was to re-announce
the post of Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests. In July
2007 the Government published a Green Paper entitled The Governance
of Britain.[6] The
text of the Green Paper implied that the post had been expanded:
- a new Independent Adviser will
be appointed to advise on Ministers' interests. He or she will
be able, at the Prime Minister's request, to investigate alleged
breaches of the Ministerial Code;
- the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests
will publish an Annual Report and List of Ministers' Interests.
Subsequent lists will be published with the Independent Adviser's
Annual Report;
- the Annual Report will be laid before Parliament
to ensure proper scrutiny of ministerial conduct.[7]
5. Subsequently, the Prime Minister appointed Sir
Philip Mawer, previously the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards,
to serve as his Independent Adviser. Sir Philip took up office
early in 2008, and we took evidence from him a few weeks into
his role on 28 February. We used this evidence session to examine
the detail of the role to which Sir Philip had been appointed,
and to discover whether it satisfied the need for independent
investigation which we and others had identified in the past.
The remainder of this report is primarily concerned with this
question of independence. First, though, we consider recent changes
to the Ministerial Code itself.
1 Public Administration Select Committee, Third Report
of Session 2000-01, The Ministerial Code: Improving the Rule
Book,
HC 235 Back
2
Ninth Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Defining
the Boundaries within the Executive: Ministers,
Special Advisers and the permanent
Civil Service, Cm 5775, April
2003 Back
3
The Government's Response to the Ninth Report of the Committee
on Standards in Public Life, Cm 5964, September
2003, pp. 1-4 Back
4
Cabinet Office, Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests:
Terms of Reference, 16 May 2006 Back
5
Public Administration Select Committee, Seventh Report of Session
2005-06, The Ministerial Code: the case for independent investigation,
HC 1457, para 42 Back
6
Ministry of Justice, The Governance of Britain, Cm 7170 Back
7
Ministry of Justice, The Governance of Britain, Cm 7170,
p 39 Back
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