Codes of conduct for ministers and senior civil servants

robertteh SG

There are certain Codes of conduct for ministers as stated in http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/propriety_and_ethics/ministers/ministerial_code/

These conducts are:-

1.1 Ministers of the Crown are expected to behave according to the highest standards of constitutional and personal conduct in the performance of their duties.

1.2 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 (and covers Parliamentary Private Secretaries in section 2).

1.3 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. The Code is not a rulebook, and it is not the role of the Secretary of the Cabinet or other officials to enforce it or to investigate Ministers although they may provide Ministers with private advice on matters which it covers.

1.4 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.

1.5 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 Seven Principles of Public Life set out in the first report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, repeated in annex A, 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 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000;
* 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 judgement or place them under an improper obligation;
* Ministers in the House of Commons 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.

1.6 Ministers must also comply at all times with the requirements which Parliament itself has laid down, including in particular the Codes of Conduct for their respective Houses. For Ministers in the Commons, these are set by the Resolution carried on 19 March 1997 (Official Report columns 1046-47), and for Ministers in the Lords the Resolution can be found in the Official Report of 20 March 1997 column 1057.

Propriety and Ethics Team, Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall, London SW1A 2AS

In the light of what has happened in NKF, as reported in the Straits Times in the civil suit by the new NKF, PM Lee should look into the following breaches or potential breaches of conduct by ministers in charge and regulatory boards arising out of the wrong doings conducted against the public and charity organizations concerned:-

(1) Must the minister for health exercise collective responsibility if he realizes that NKF has given wrong doings e.g. Durai's giving misleading information to parliament over figures of donation dollar to patient treatment and the cabinet disagree with his advice and proceeded to present the wrong figures to parliament.

Has the cabinet or the house leader the overriding right to use the party whip not to allow discussions in partiamentary proceeding over such NKF Issue.

(2) Minister of health was under a duty as stated to be responsible for the policies and decisions and implementation in regulating the accounts and management and conduct of charity organization like NKF.

In this case, NKF appears to be tacitly supported by the minister in charge and later it was found that NKF has been liable for wrongs committed and their CEO and board taken to task.

In this case, NKF could point a finger to the minister for health and the regulatory authority to say that you supported my patient-subsidy and all the other policies.

Should the minister concerned be found to be committing an error of judgment as well and be partly or primarily liable.

At least the minister, patron and regulatory authority should be asked to answer whether they have neglected in looking into the conduct and administration of NKF which were the subject of the current civil suits.

Would criminal suit follow since Singapore is supposed to be the strictest in preventing corruption among the government leaders an dpublic officers.

(3) The ministerial codes of conduct stated that 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;

In this case as far as NKF is concerned it has given wrong and inaccurate information through the minister for health to parliament. The minister has given wrong and inaccurate information to the parliament and was in breach of the codes. So will PM Lee look into such breach of conduct by the minister.

(4) The codes provide that 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 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000;

Should the minister of manpower be liable to provide accurate disclosure of information with regards to how many citizens benefited from the pro-foreign employment employment and investment policy. At present the information given remains very muddled up by combining or lumping permanent citizens with the citizens' employment figures/

Should citizens who have become unemployed or unemployable over 12 months due to globalization be included as unemployed seeking jobs so as to give a more accurate figure to show the extent of unemployment problem.

(5) The codes clearly stated that Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or appears to arise, between their public duties and their private interests;

If a minister has previously be engaged in his own private business or practices should such a minister not dispose of his business or practices so as not to encourage citizens to patronize the minister's business or practices which could be potential and substantial encouragement by the government ffor kick-back corruptions/

robertteh SG

If the PM Lee wants to pay his ministers million-dollar salaries equivalent to Ioccocca of Chrysler as presented in parliament (incidentally posted by stupidismart in another post) even though they are not ioccoccas, he should at least be seen to be able to hold them accountable for breach of minister’s codes of conduct or such serious misrepresentations to the public and parliament by the ministers and the head of regulatory authority as has happened in the NKF saga.

camera21 SG

Well said.

I think the salaries of the ministers are excessive, even if they are supposed to be pegged at two-thirds of market rates. If they are truly worth their salt then on their exit from office they should have no problems commanding similar or even better salaries. Yet, one hears of ex-ministers and ex-ministers-of-state being unemployed or being sacked in the private sector. How good are they really? Some of them have been closeted and cannot survive in the private sector. The government is always harping on the fact that ministers are underpaid. I guess anecdotal evidence shows otherwise.

How is it that opposition MPs are blind to this? They should seriously address this in parliament.