The committee, an independent advisory body to government, also called on departments to “actively manage” any conflicts of interest that could arise as a result of a secondment, for example, by imposing restrictions on the secondment to mitigate the conflict.
Departments should also regularly publish summary information about cases they consider under the Business Appointment Rules, which govern the posts that former special advisers and civil servants can take after leaving public service.
The report calls on permanent secretaries to “certify annually that they have satisfied themselves about the adequacy of their organisation’s arrangements for safeguarding high ethical standards.”
This certification, it says, would include considerations such as management of secondments and compliance with business appointment rule, and should also include ensuring that officials, ministers and special advisers are reporting relevant contacts by lobbyists.
CSPL chair Paul Bew (pictured above) told Civil Service World: “We are trying to embed leadership culture and ethics in that way. This [report] is not just a compliance-based document. There is a need for a more proactive role and a cultural change in certain areas.”
Committee member Richard Thomas, who was Information Commissioner from 2002 to 2009, added: “Leadership is one of the standards of public life and, ultimately, there has to be the right steer given from the top of the organisation.”
Bew added that the report is “not intended as a commentary" on the government’s lobbying bill, which ministers today announced has been paused for as long as six weeks to allow government to carry out further consultation and changes to its provisions.
The bill seeks to establish a statutory register of lobbyists, and sets out which meetings with ministers and officials must be declared by lobbyists. The CSPL report states, however, that the bill’s “narrow definition of ‘consultant lobbyist’ would significantly limit [its] potential to enhance transparency around lobbying”.
The Commons’ Political and Constitutional Reform Committee (PCRC) earlier this year described the bill as “seriously flawed, while the Joint Committee on Human Rights last month echoed said the bill, which also limits non-party campaigning in election years, should be paused and amended as it could have a “chilling effect on free speech”.
More criticism came from the Lords’ Committee on the Constitution: committee chair Baroness Jay last month told CSW that the bill is “just a bad form of governance”.
See also: CSW's feature on the lobbying bill