Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 2003 > Committee on Finance and the Public Service > Report - Referral of Motion re the Draft Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour

Houses of the Oireachtas

Tithe an Oireachtais

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Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service

An Comhchoiste um Airgeadas agus an tSeirbhís Phoiblí

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Report:

Report On:

Referral of Motion re the Draft Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour - (Department of Finance).

Tuarascáil:

Tuarascáil Maidir le:

Tairiscint maidir le Dréacht-Chód Caighdeán agus Iompair na Státseirbhíse a Tharchur - (An Roinn Airgeadais).

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June, 2003

Meitheamh, 2003

Houses of the Oireachtas

Tithe an Oireachtais

_________________________

Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service

An Comhchoiste um Airgeadas agus an tSeirbhís Phoiblí

_________________________

Report:

Report On:

Referral of Motion re the Draft Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour - (Department of Finance).

_________________________

Tuarascáil:

Tuarascáil Maidir le:

Tairiscint maidir le Dréacht-Chód Caighdeán agus Iompair na Státseirbhíse a Tharchur - (An Roinn Airgeadais).

_________________________

June, 2003

Meitheamh, 2003

Report of the Committee on Finance and the Service on the draft Code of Standards and Behaviour for Civil Servants

Table of Contents:

Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service

Report on the Draft Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour:

INTRODUCTION:

The Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service heard a presentation from the Department of Finance on the above draft Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour, on 28 May, 2003. It deliberated on the text of the presentation and draft Code at its meetings on 28 May and 11 June and agreed that a report be drafted for presentation.

CONTEXT:

The Draft Code (attached at Appendix A) was referred for this Committee’s consideration by Orders of the Dáil and Seanad on 8^th May. The Committee was to report back to the Dáil and Seanad by 3^rd July so that further discussions with the Unions could progress over the summer. The draft Code sets out the principles and standards which should govern the behaviour of staff in a modernised Civil Service. It was approved by the Government in 2000 and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 29 November of that year. It was then sent to the previous Joint Committee of the 28^th Dáil in December 2000 and on 13 March 2001 the Department of Finance made an oral presentation on the draft Code to that Committee.

At the time of dissolution of the last Dáil the previous Committee was awaiting presentations from the civil service unions and other bodies before finalising its deliberations. These presentations never actually took place, the individual Unions having been asked to come before the Committee a number of times. However, detailed discussions did take place between the Unions and the Department of Finance in 2001 and further discussions will take place again between them, after this Committee has finalised its conclusions on the Code. Early implementation of the Code has been agreed under the new partnership agreement, “Sustaining Progress”. The Code was also referred to the Standards in Public Office Commission who also made observations. The views of this Committee, the Standards in Public Office Commission and the Unions will be resubmitted to Government for a final decision before promulgation in the Civil Service.

The presentation given by the Department of Finance on the 28 May is attached at Appendix B, for reference. As a result of queries raised at that meeting, the Department subsequently sent additional material to the Committee, which included copies of the relevant circulars, a covering letter etc. (attached atAppendix C)

COMMITTEE’S FINDINGS:

1. Conflicts of interest:

There was particular concern expressed by members, with regard to senior civil servants, immediately after retirement, being employed in the private sector in an area in which they had previously adjudicated or held responsibility in the civil service. There were counter-balancing views expressed which emphasized the need for pragmatism and discretion and a requirement not to be overly prescriptive regarding this aspect of the Code, as there may be a public, as well as private, benefit to be gained from any cross-fertilization and also because there was only a limited pool of experienced people from which to draw expertise. Attention was also drawn to the potential for conflict in commercially sensitive areas such as price-setting, tender pricing and privatization issues.

2. Civil Servants and Politics:

The situation pertaining here in Ireland was compared to that in Scandinavian countries where a much more liberal approach is applied. The Code was considered too restrictive in this regard and the threshold for participation in politics at or below clerical officer level was generally considered far too low. It was also re-iterated by a number of members that this particular restriction in the Code as it stood could be denying society the benefit of informed, intelligent comment on keenly held views of civil servants that don’t conflict with their particular areas of responsibility.

3. The document in general:

It was stressed that the document was wrongly concentrating on the control of people rather than quality management: a top-down approach of dictating what people cannot do rather than how the system can help them achieve their best potential. It was also highlighted that there was no reference to redress procedures for public service customers in the code.

4. Criminal convictions:

The point was made regarding Section 9 of the Code where Civil Servants are required to report to their Personnel Officer cases where they had been previously convicted of a criminal offence - the Unions were supportive of this. However, in cases of summary proceedings, where officers benefited from the Probation Act, it was suggested that it should not be compulsory that officers report this to Personnel Officers.

5. Ban on civil servants making representations:

Paragraph 14.4 of the Code refers to officers not being permitted to make representations - however, it was pointed out that the document did not specify to whom the representations can be made - an example was given of where it may be perfectly valid to make representations to a Dáil deputy. However, members agreed that if the representations were made by an officer on something on which s/he was making a decision, it would be clearly inappropriate.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1.more serious guidelines/specific rules are required in cases where former civil servants take up employment in commercially sensitive areas of work over which, in the civil service, they had previously held a prominent role. Members felt that in some situations the need for a two year break may also have to be considered.

2.in page 10, to clarify the definition of politics, to distinguish between “politics” in a general sense and “party politics”. Examples were given of where civil servants, as citizens, may wish to participate in civil and social activities e.g. human rights campaigns; school boards of management; etc.

3.A relaxation of the rules was required where civil servants cannot contribute to public debate on politics.

4.Criminal convictions - it was recommended that the rule on this issue should be revisited, particularly regarding the requirement to report summary convictions, where officers were given the benefit of the Probation Act.

5.Ban on civil servants making representations - greater clarity is required on the definition of whom the representations can be made to.

6.Redress Procedures - the Civil Service should have a responsibility to ensure that customers are treated fairly and equitably and to provide a redress system for those customers, where appropriate.

CONCLUSIONS:

The Committee recommended that the issues highlighted in this report be reexamined in the light of their deliberations and be reported to the Government in the context of its consideration of a final Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour.