Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of public authorities that will be required to establish and maintain a code of ethical conduct under clause 10 of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill; and how any such estimate is broken down by (1) type of public authority, and (2) government department responsible for oversight.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
All core public authorities will be required to establish and publish a Code of Ethical Conduct, including all central government departments, National Health Services bodies, local authorities, police forces and state funded schools. Approximately six million public sector workers across the public sector are within scope of the Bill.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the public authorities they expect to be subject to clause 10 of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill already have a code of ethical or professional conduct applying to their public officials.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The requirement to adopt a Code of Ethical Conduct is intended to sit alongside, not replace, existing ethical or candour frameworks.
In many cases public authorities will be able to satisfy the requirement by updating or amending existing codes to meet the minimum standards. For example, the Civil Service Code will act as the Code of Ethical Conduct for the Civil Service.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which existing codes applying to public authorities differ in respect of honesty, candour, record keeping, disclosure, correction of known error, reasons for decisions, protected reporting, complaints, investigation and sanctions.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Public authorities are responsible for adopting and maintaining their organisational Code of Ethical Conduct. It is for each public authority to ensure that their organisation’s Code complies with the requirements set out in Chapter 2, Clause 10 of the Bill. This includes providing information about how staff can make protected disclosures and make complaints about the conduct of an organisation.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which existing codes of ethical or professional conduct they obtained and considered when preparing clause 10 of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill; and whether they will place copies of, or links to, those codes in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The provisions set out in the Bill have been developed on the basis of the Seven Principles of Public Life (the Nolan Principles). Codes must be used to drive ethical behaviour in a public authority and to be embedded in all aspects of their organisation’s work - the delivery of public services.
Public authorities will be required to take steps to make their staff aware of the Code and the consequences of failing to comply with it. Public authorities are required to publish their respective Code of Ethical Conduct.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the costs and resource implications of clause 10 of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill were not separately quantified in the Bill’s impact assessment; and whether they will publish a supplementary assessment before the beginning of Committee stage in the House of Lords.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Most, if not all, public bodies will already be covered by a form of a Code of Ethical Conduct. Therefore, it is not anticipated that the impact in terms of costs will be substantial.
The scale of these costs can only be fully determined after Royal Assent. A further assessment of impact will, therefore, be undertaken at the appropriate stage.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total initial and recurring cost to public authorities of drafting, consulting upon, publishing, maintaining, reviewing, training staff upon and enforcing the codes required by clause 10 of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Code of Ethical provisions as set out in the Bill will allow public authorities flexibility to implement the Code to suit their organisation and sector. Given that most public bodies will already be covered by a form of code, it is anticipated that costs will not be substantial.
The scale of these costs can only be fully determined after Royal Assent. A further assessment of impact will, therefore, be undertaken at the appropriate stage.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the Prime Minister intends to acknowledge receipt of, and reply to, the letter sent on 18 February by Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws and other current and former members of Parliament who have been sanctioned by the government of China.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Foreign Secretary has responded to the letter on behalf of the Prime Minister. Both the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have offered meetings with the signatories to the letter.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether anyone in the Prime Minister's Office advised against proceeding in the China spy case for diplomatic reasons, and if so, what that advice was.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Director of Public Prosecutions took an independent decision to not proceed with the case as the evidential bar was not met. There was no political interference or direction in the provision of evidence.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether public sector contracting authorities are required to adopt scientific tools under the Procurement Act 2023 to assess the presence of forced labour in suppliers’ operations; and if so, how their use is being evaluated and whether such technology is being rolled out for more extensive use.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Abhorrent practices such as modern slavery, human trafficking and human rights abuses have no place in public supply chains or in wider society. This Government is determined to stamp this out. Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 009 ‘Tackling Modern Slavery in Government Supply Chains’ encourages departments to conduct due diligence using a range of tools and approaches to assess risks. The PPN sets out key actions to identify risks and recommends the use of tools such as the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool to support departments in managing risks.
The Procurement Act 2023 also provides contracting authorities with stronger powers to exclude suppliers from public procurements where there is compelling evidence of modern slavery within their supply chains.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the national security implications of the ownership of UK critical infrastructure by CK Hutchison, in the light of recent reports that Hong Kong authorities intervened in the company's overseas divestment decisions with regard to sale of ports on the Panama Canal.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government works closely with CNI operators, alongside our National Technical Authorities and industry partners, to ensure resilience and preparedness to the broad and diverse range of threats and risks the UK faces.
As is longstanding practice, the Government does not generally comment on individual investors or investments in the national security context.