Codes of conduct are about protecting the public and employees by creating the right environment and culture.
As the Public Office (Accountability) Bill moves closer to achieving Royal Assent, the EIC is talking to those that its implementation will affect. The government asked us to establish ourselves, over time, as a centre of excellence on ethical codes of conduct. The first step towards this is to produce guidance to assist public authorities to produce, embed and review a code of conduct that meets the requirements under, what will become, the act.
However, this work is not, at its heart, about complying with an act, albeit this is of course important. It is about protecting the public. The aim is to mitigate and, where possible, avoid the sort of failings that have had such a devastating impact on so many. These include scandals such as Post Office Horizon, Infected Blood, Windrush and the tragedy that acted as the catalyst for the current Bill, Hillsborough.
EIC guidance will support public authorities, whether a local council, police service or NHS trust, to set a culture that identifies warning signs by building trust within its employees. Building trust that they will be listened to when something doesn't feel right, and trust that action will be taken, and that they will be supported when they tell the truth, no matter how unpalatable that might be to the reputation of the organisation.
To set an ethical culture requires a public authority to articulate its expectations, including on speaking-up when things aren’t right, and ensure that employees feel comfortable in their working environment. An ethical code of conduct is the basis to do this, but this can be largely a tick-box exercise, unless driven and modelled by the right ethical leadership behaviours from the top. Our predecessor, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, produced a report in 2023 that looked at Ethical Leadership in Practice. Its overarching finding was that senior leaders set the tone for the organisation. Insight showed that there are three key areas in doing this: clarity, consistency and consequences.
Leaders must be clear about the importance that they place on values and role-model these, especially in pressurised situations. They must also be willing to address behaviours that are not consistent with these values. A well written code of ethical conduct, that has been produced in consultation with those across the organisation, provides the foundation for this. At its core it should be underpinned by the Nolan Principles, but consciously contextualised to a particular organisational environment. It is for leaders across the organisation to embed these principles and make them the ‘way that we do things around here’. This is not something that can be achieved overnight, or in a couple of months. It requires consistency and commitment alongside bringing staff into discussions on what a code of ethical conduct should look like.
The confidence to speak up begins with encouraging staff to articulate the culture that they want to see and identify ways to achieve it. The organisations that do this best are those that recognise this to be essential to the success of their organisation. Empowered and confident employees across an organisation provide early warning of potential issues and contribute to effective risk management. Employees that know what is expected of them, and speak up because they know that action will be taken, are more likely to feel psychologically safe in their environment. The benefits of getting this right are significant, but they are not instantaneous and, whilst there will always be best practice things to do, different things will work better in different organisations.
This is where the EIC’s guidance for public authorities can make a difference. We have commissioned work on best practice in general terms which we are reviewing now. But we also seek views on what others have done in this area that has worked… and what hasn’t. Our aim is to provide the best advice possible to public authorities, which we believe will, for the most part, come from those using an ethical code of conduct. As CSPL’s previous report on ethical leadership showed us, real life case studies from those that are doing this can bring the advice to life. If your organisation has an ethical code of conduct then please read on…
The EIC has launched a formal call for evidence today. We are looking for those that have an ethical code of conduct in place. We are seeking the opportunity to learn about your experience of designing and embedding a code of conduct. The EIC intends to get its initial guidance available to public authorities ahead of the Bill achieving Royal Assent. Therefore, we are asking for all submissions to be with the EIC by the last weekend in September. If you would like to speak to someone about this then please contact EIC at contact@eic.independent.gov.uk.
Stu Sterling is a senior civil servant with extensive experience in both policy and operations. He has worked in the Cabinet Office, Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This piece was initially published on the Ethics and Integrity Commission website