Lord Evans, Chair of the Committee on Standards in
Public Life, has written to the Prime Minister regarding the
Committee's ongoing review and the role of the Independent
Adviser on Ministers' Interests.
Letter from Lord Evans to
the Prime Minister on Independent Adviser
MS Word Document, 22.8KB
Details
Lord Evans has written to the Prime Minister to draw attention to
the Committee’s ongoing review of the arrangements for upholding
ethical standards in public life, Standards Matter 2, and
particularly the role of the Independent Adviser on Ministers’
Interests.
In order to facilitate the timely appointment of a new
Independent Adviser, the Committee has made a number of
recommendations, informed by the evidence that the Committee has
now taken from a wide range of witnesses including former
Independent Advisers and former Cabinet Secretaries, as part of
that review.
We recommend that the Adviser is given the authority to initiate
investigations where, in their judgement, that is necessary in
order to establish the facts surrounding allegations that the
Ministerial Code had been breached. We also recommend that the
Independent Adviser should have the discretion to decide that an
allegation requires no further investigation.
We recommend the Adviser should be able to publish a summary of
their findings but that published findings should not include any
comment on sanction. The Prime Minister should retain the right
to decide on any sanction following a breach of the Code but the
current expectation that any breach should lead to resignation is
disproportionate. We recommend that there should be a
proportionate range of sanctions where the Code has been
breached.
We also recommend the Adviser should be appointed for a
non-renewable five-year term.
