Cabinet Office: The Propriety and Ethics Team

Related Links

• Parliament
• Public Administration Select Committee
• The Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration
• The Committee on Standards in Public Life
• Ministerial Responsibilities

Publications

The publications listed below appear in HTML, PDF, RTF and Word formats. Details on specialised readers for these formats can be found at our Readers page.

Ministers

• Ministerial Code [HTML 162KB ]
• Travel by Ministers [HTML 15KB]

Civil Service

• Civil Service Code [HTML 12KB]
• Departmental Evidence and Response to Select Committees - guidance to civil servants on giving evidence to Select Committees of Parliament and responding to Select Committee reports [HTML 6KB]
• Directory of Civil Service Guidance - a compendium of Civil Service guidance [Volume 1 PDF 322KB]
• Directory of Civil Service Guidance - a compendium of Civil Service guidance [ Volume 2 PDF 309KB]
• Guidance for Civil Servants: Contact With Lobbyists [HTML 14KB]
• Guidance for Crown Servants - Giving Evidence or Information about Suspected Crimes [PDF 86 KB]
• Guidance for Departments and Investigators - Giving Evidence or Information about Suspected Crimes [PDF 87KB]
• Guidance for civil servants involved in Government Communication activities - Propriety guidance for civil servants, including Press Officers, involved in government communication activities. [External website]
• Guidance to officials on drafting answers to parliamentary questions
• Sponsorship of Government Activities

Special Advisers

• Model Contract for Special Advisers [HTML 47KB]
• Code of Conduct for Special Advisers [HTML 28KB]
• Code of Conduct for Special Advisers [Word 61KB]

Election and Referendum Guidance

• North East Referendum: Legal restrictions under the political parties, elections and referendums act [PDF 172KB]
• Elections to the European Parliament, Local Authorities and the Greater London Authority 2004 [PDF 68KB]
• Referendums on Establishing Elected Regional Assemblies [PDF 116KB]
• Elections to the Scottish Parliament, The National Assembly for Wales, and Local Elections in England [PDF 72KB]
• General Election Guidance 2001 [PDF 80 KB]
• Guidance on Election Guidance on written consultation exercises [HTML 6KB]

Handling Correspondence from Members of Parliament and Peers

• Handling Correspondence from Members of Parliament: Guidance for Departments [Word 62 KB]
• Handling Correspondence from Members of Parliament: Guidance for Departments [RTF 120KB]
• Handling Correspondence from Members of Parliament: Guidance for Departments [PDF 66KB]

• Handling Correspondence from Members of Parliament: Good Practice Guidance [Word 53KB]
• Handling Correspondence from Members of Parliament: Good Practice Guidance [RTF 92KB]
• Handling Correspondence from Members of Parliament: Good Practice Guidance [PDF 67KB]

• Annual Report to Parliament on the Performance of Departments and Agencies when replying to Correspondence from Members of Parliament [Word 49KB]
• Annual Report to Parliament on the Performance of Departments and Agencies when replying to Correspondence from Members of Parliament [RTF 130KB]
• Annual Report to Parliament on the Performance of Departments and Agencies when replying to Correspondence from Members of Parliament [PDF 113KB]

Parliamentary Ombudsmen

• Ombudsman In Your Files [PDF 185 KB]
• Review of the Public Sector Ombudsmen In England [PDF 217KB]
• Review of the Public Sector Ombudsmen in England : A Consultation Paper [PDF 94KB]
• Ombudsman Schemes: Guidance for Departments [PDF 97KB]
• Handling of Ombudsman cases: Guidance for Departments [PDF 140KB]
• List of Departments and Bodies that can be investigated by the Ombudsman [PDF 107KB]