The Ethics and Integrity Commission has unveiled its plan to help public authorities to achieve “meaningful cultural change” through new ethical codes.
The commission said its work will help public bodies to “move past basic compliance and foster a genuine culture of everyday selflessness".
The new public office (accountability) bill – known as the Hillsborough Law – will, once given royal assent, require all public bodies to establish a professional duty of candour for staff to be set out within a wider code of ethics based on the Nolan Principles.
The EIC was directed in October last year by then-prime minister Keir Starmer to report on how public bodies can “develop, distribute and enforce such codes so that they effect meaningful cultural change, ensuring public officials act with honesty, integrity and candour at all times”.
Once the report is published and the Hillsborough Law – currently awaiting its second reading in the House of Lords – receives royal assent, the commission will “act as a centre of excellence on public sector codes of conduct, providing guidance and best practice to help all public bodies put ethics and integrity at the heart of public service delivery”.
The EIC has now unveiled its terms of reference for the project, which says the watchdog will “formulate non-statutory guidance” for public authorities to meet their requirements under the public office bill.
This will include practical guidance on how to write a code of conduct, including recommended structure and style and examples of good practice, as well as how to embed and review a code.
The EIC will also “assist relevant public authorities to think through what a code of ethical conduct should look like for their specific organisational circumstances and context”, with “periodic review to ensure that it reflects appropriate changes”.
The terms of reference also notes that the Cabinet Office is responsible for producing any guidance required for legal, statutory or regulatory compliance requirements and the EIC will “explicitly avoid providing guidance for these requirements”.
Building on the foundation of Lord Nolan’s historic Seven Principles of Public Life, the project aims to address systematic institutional failings such as those identified in the wake of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
EIC chair Doug Chalmers said: "This project isn't just about preparing for a new law; it’s about restoring public trust. We want to help public authorities move past basic compliance and foster a genuine culture of everyday selflessness.”
The watchdog’s work in this area will focus on non-devolved public authorities but the EIC said it “anticipates consulting with the devolved nations on relevant areas to support this work”.
The project will have two phases. In phase one, it will launch an open call for evidence seeking written submissions to identify knowledge gaps, uncover what works and capture lessons learned from existing codes – with key stakeholders invited to give oral evidence. This evidence will shape a provisional draft of the guidance.
The second phase will be a “rigorous” public consultation “to test its real-world practicality and effectiveness”, getting feedback from practitioners, experts and the public before finalising the guidance and delivering the final report.
The EIC has also commissioned three short research projects to inform and support the project.
The commission it intends to submit its report and non-statutory guidance in the final draft format to the prime minister in 2027, it said.