To ensure that ministers could be held accountable to
parliament, it is proposed to pass a code of conduct for ministers
as follows: (adapted from UK model)
1. Ministers are expected to behave according to the highest
standards of constitutional and personal conduct in the performance
of their duties.
2. This Code provides guidance to Ministers on how they should act
and arrange their affairs in order to uphold these standards. It
lists the principles which may apply in particular situations
drawing on past precedent. It applies to all members of the
Government.
3. Ministers are personally responsible for deciding how to act and
conduct themselves in the light of the Code and for justifying
their actions and conduct in Parliament.
4. Ministers only remain in office for so long as they retain the
confidence of the Prime Minister. He is the ultimate judge of the
standards of behaviour expected of a Minister and the appropriate
consequences of a breach of those standards, although he will not
expect to comment on every allegation that is brought to his
attention.
5. The Code should be read against the background of the
overarching duty on Ministers to comply with the law, including
international law and treaty obligations, to uphold the
administration of justice and to protect the integrity of public
life. They are expected to observe the Principles of Public Life
set out by the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the
following principles of Ministerial conduct:
* Ministers must uphold the principle of collective
responsibility;
* Ministers have a duty to Parliament to account, and be held to
account, for the policies, decisions and actions of their
departments and agencies;
* It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and
truthful information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent
error at the earliest opportunity. Ministers who knowingly mislead
Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the Prime
Minister;
* Ministers should be as open as possible with Parliament and the
public, refusing to provide information only when disclosure would
not be in the public interest which should be decided in accordance
with the relevant statutes.
* Ministers should similarly require civil servants who give
evidence before Parliamentary Committees on their behalf and under
their direction to be as helpful as possible in providing accurate,
truthful and full information in accordance with the duties and
responsibilities of civil servants as set out in the Civil Service
Code;
* Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or appears to
arise, between their public duties and their private
interests;
* Ministers should avoid accepting any gift or hospitality which
might, or might reasonably appear to, compromise their judgment or
place them under an improper obligation;
* Ministers must keep separate their roles as Minister and
constituency Member;
* Ministers must not use government resources for Party political
purposes. They must uphold the political impartiality of the Civil
Service and not ask civil servants to act in any way which would
conflict with the Civil Service Code.
6. Ministers must also comply at all times with the requirements
which Parliament itself has laid down.