Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has provided recent guidance to officials in (a) his Department and (b) arms-length bodies for which his Department is responsible on potential (i) regulatory, (ii) civil and (iii) criminal liability they may face in connection with failing to adhere to (A) the Civil Service Code, (B) Annex 4.14 (Remedy) of Managing Public Money and (C) complaints procedures published by his Department or its arms-length bodies.

All Civil Servants are bound by the Civil Service Code. This standard, and other standards of behaviour and conduct expected from employees are set out in the Conduct policy. A failure to adhere to the required standard of conduct would be handled under the Disciplinary policy. Arm’s-length bodies staffed by public servants have appropriate conduct policies in place. The relevant policies are accessible to staff, including through departmental and organisational intranets. The department’s internal delegations confirm that all expenditure must be in accordance with HMT’s Managing Public Money.