Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what sanctions apply to Ministers who fail to declare relevant interests or meetings.

Further to the letter sent to the Rt Hon Member from the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 8 July 2021, Non-Executive Board Members are individuals appointed in line with the Corporate Governance Code for Central Government Department https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/corporate-governance-code-for-central-government-departments-2017

Remuneration for Non-Executive Board Members is reported in the Cabinet Offices' Annual Report and Accounts and is available on our website.

Non-Executive Directors on the boards of public bodies fulfil legal duties in accordance with the founding legal instruments, statutory or otherwise, of their organisation. The Cabinet Office publishes data on the number of public appointees on the boards of public bodies and in independent offices, appointed following the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

Part 7 of the Ministerial Code sets out the expectations around Ministers’ private interests. Paragraph 8.14 of the Code sets out the expectations around meetings with external organisations.

As set out in the Code, Ministers are personally responsible for deciding how to act and conduct themselves in light of the Code and for justifying their actions to Parliament and the public. The Prime Minister is the ultimate judge of the standards of behaviour expected of a Minister and the appropriate consequences of a breach of those standards. The Prime Minister recently accepted the recommendation of the Committee on Standards in Public Life that there should be a range of sanctions available where a breach of the Ministerial Code is determined to have occurred. The full letter is available on GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/981905/Letter_from_the_Prime_Minister_to_Lord_Evans__28_April_2021.pdf