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.

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.