Scottish Ministerial Code: 2024 Edition

Part A | Ministers’ Standards of Conduct - Chapter 1: Scottish Ministers

General Principle

1.1 Scottish Ministers are expected to maintain high standards of behaviour and to behave in a way that upholds the highest standards of propriety.

1.2 Ministers are expected to embody the principles of public service and to set a positive example as they govern in the national interest. Ministers should recognise that, as office holders, they are held to the highest possible standards of proper conduct and should ensure that they are living up to those standards in their words and actions.

1.3 Ministers are responsible for their own behaviour and are ultimately accountable to the First Minister for their conduct under this Code.

The Seven Principles of Public Life

1.4 Ministers are expected to observe the Seven Principles of Public Life (also known as the ‘Nolan Principles’), which are set out by the Committee on Standards in Public Life and apply to all public office holders:

(a) Selflessness: Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.

(b) Integrity: Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

(c) Objectivity: Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.

(d) Accountability: Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny necessary to ensure this.

(e) Openness: Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for doing so.

(f) Honesty: Holders of public office should be truthful.

(g) Leadership: Holders of public office should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour and treat others with respect. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.

Public Service and Ministerial Conduct

1.5 Serving the country and the public in Ministerial office is a privilege. Ministers should be professional in all their dealings and treat all those with whom they come into contact with consideration and respect. Working relationships, including with civil servants, Ministerial and Parliamentary colleagues and Parliamentary staff should be proper and appropriate. Harassing, bullying or other inappropriate or discriminating behaviour, wherever it takes place, is not consistent with the Ministerial Code and will not be tolerated. Ministers in post at and from the time of publication of the 2023 edition of the Code (when this requirement was introduced) agree to cooperate and engage fully and promptly with any complaint processes, including any informal process or with any formal process conducted under the procedure for making a formal complaint about a Minister’s or former Minister’s behaviour, regardless of when such behaviour is alleged to have occurred. For the avoidance of doubt, this obligation to cooperate with this procedure will continue to apply to a Minister after they have left office.

1.6 The Scottish Government will publish information about concluded formal complaints about a Minister or former Minister’s behaviour, including the name of the Minister/former Minister. No information will be published which could lead to the identification of any complainer or witness.

1.7 The Ministerial Code should be read against the background of the overarching duty on Ministers to comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations, and to uphold the administration of justice and to protect the integrity of public life. In addition to the Seven Principles of Public Life, Ministers are expected to observe the following principles of Ministerial conduct:

(a) The principle of collective responsibility, as defined in Chapter 6 below, applies to all Ministers;

(b) Ministers have a duty to the Parliament to account, and be held to account, for the policies, decisions and actions taken within their field of responsibility;

(c) It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to the Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity. Ministers who knowingly mislead the Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the First Minister;

(d) Ministerial office requires candour and openness. Ministers should demand and welcome candid advice. Ministers should be as open as possible with the Parliament and the public, reflecting the aspirations set out in the Report of the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament. They should refuse to provide information only in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and other relevant statutes. Ministers should be open and candid with public inquiries;

(e) Ministers should similarly require civil servants who give evidence before Committees on their behalf and under their direction to be as helpful as possible in providing accurate, truthful and full information in accordance with the duties and responsibilities of civil servants as set out in the Civil Service Code;^[1]

(f) Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or appears to arise, between their public duties and their private interests;

(g) Ministers should not accept any gift or hospitality which might, or might reasonably appear to, compromise their judgement or place them under any obligation to people or organisations that might try to influence their work in government. The same principle applies if gifts etc. are offered to a member of their family;

(h) Ministers must keep separate their roles as Minister and as constituency or regional list Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP);

(i) Ministers must not use public resources for party-political purposes;

(j) Ministers must uphold the political impartiality of the Civil Service, including during pre-election and pre-referendum periods, and not ask civil servants to act in any way which would conflict with the Civil Service Code as set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.^[2]

Parliamentary Requirements

1.8 Ministers must comply at all times with the requirements the Parliament itself has laid down in relation to the accountability and responsibility of Ministers. All Ministers (both MSPs and Law Officers) are bound by the Interests of Members of the Scottish Parliament Act 2006, taken together with Section 39 of the Scotland Act 1998. All MSPs, including those who are Ministers, must also adhere to the terms of the Code of Conduct for Members of the Scottish Parliament, which provides a set of principles and standards for MSPs and sets out the ethical standards expected of them in carrying out their Parliamentary duties. The MSPs' Code of Conduct is available from the Scottish Parliament's website.^[3]

Ministers and the Civil Service

1.9 The relationship between Ministers and civil servants is underpinned by their common duty of public service as set out in this Code and in the Civil Service Code.

1.10 Ministers have a duty to:

• Give fair consideration and due weight to informed and impartial advice from civil servants, as well as to other considerations and advice in reaching policy decisions;
• Uphold the political impartiality of the Civil Service, including in relation to pre-election and pre-referendum periods, and not to ask civil servants to act in any way which would conflict with the Civil Service Code^[4] and the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Civil Governance Act 2010;^[5]
• Ensure that influence over appointments is not abused for partisan purposes; and
• Observe the obligations of a good employer with regard to the terms and conditions of those who serve them.

1.11 Ministers should not ask civil servants to engage in activities likely to call into question their political impartiality, including during pre-election and pre-referendum periods, or to give rise to the criticism that official resources are being used for party-political purposes.

Civil Servants and Party-Political Events

1.12 Ministers should not ask civil servants to attend or take part in party conferences or meetings of party policy or subject groups. It is an established principle in the public service that civil servants in their official capacity should not accept invitations to conferences convened by, or under the aegis of, party-political organisations. The situation is, of course, different when Ministers require officials to be in attendance at party-political events to enable the Minister to carry out urgent official business unconnected with the event. An exception to this rule is made for Special Advisers who, under the terms of their contracts, may attend party functions, including annual party conferences (but they may not speak publicly at the conference) and maintain contact with party members. Further guidance is available from the Cabinet Office.^[6]

1.13 If a Minister wishes to have a brief for a party-political occasion to explain Government policies or actions, there is no reason why this should not be provided. It cannot however contain material which could be construed as designed to promote one party’s line or to anticipate criticisms from other parties.

The Role of the Accountable Officer

1.14 The Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000^[7] makes provision for the appointment of the Permanent Secretary as Principal Accountable Officer (PAO) for the Scottish Administration and specifies the Permanent Secretary’s functions in this capacity. These include designating Accountable Officers for such parts of the Scottish Administration as the Permanent Secretary may specify and for certain other bodies, the accounts of which are required by statute to be audited by or under the control of the Auditor General for Scotland.

1.15 The essence of the Accountable Officer’s role is a personal responsibility for the propriety and regularity of the public finances for which they have stewardship and ensuring the economic, efficient and effective use of resources. Accountable Officers are personally answerable to the Public Audit Committee of the Parliament on these matters within the framework of Ministerial accountability to the Parliament. The PAO has overall responsibility for these matters with regard to the Government, but would normally only be expected to answer personally to the Public Audit Committee on issues affecting the Government as a whole.

1.16 Accountable Officers have a particular responsibility to see that appropriate advice is tendered to Ministers on all matters of financial propriety and regularity and on the economic, efficient and effective use of resources. If Ministers are contemplating a course of action which the Accountable Officer considers would breach the requirements of financial regularity or propriety, the Accountable Officer must set out in writing their objection to the proposal, the reasons for the objection and their duty to inform the Auditor General for Scotland should the advice be overruled.

1.17 If Ministers decide nonetheless to proceed, the Accountable Officer must seek written authority to take the action in question and must send the relevant papers to the Auditor General for Scotland and to the Clerk to the Public Audit Committee as soon as possible. The same procedure applies where the Accountable Officer considers that Ministers are contemplating a course of action which they could not defend as representing value for money within a framework of Best Value. The procedure enables the Public Audit Committee to see that the Accountable Officer does not bear personal responsibility for the actions concerned.

1.18 The role of Accountable Officers is described in greater detail in the Memorandum to Accountable Officers published in the Scottish Public Finance Manual.^[8]