7. The Principles of Propriety
Civil servants are expected to observe exceptionally high standards of personal honesty and integrity. The guiding principles governing the acceptance of gifts and hospitality are:
- that the conduct of individual civil servants should not foster the suspicion of any conflict between their official duty and their private interests
- that the actions of civil servants acting in an official capacity should not give the impression to any member of the public, to any organisation with whom they deal, or to their colleagues, that they have been or may have been influenced by a gift or consideration to show favour or disfavour to any person or organisation
- that if either the individual officer or the department is in doubt about the propriety of accepting a gift or an item of hospitality, then it should be refused
In practice, the principles listed above mean that neither you nor any member of your family should accept a gift or hospitality which would, or might appear to, place you under any obligation to the donor, compromise your impartiality or otherwise be improper.
These principles are of course to be applied with common sense.
To be an acceptable offer of a gift or hospitality, it must be:
- an isolated gift (i.e. not frequent)
- of trivial character
- an inexpensive gift such as a diary or calendar, the occasional working lunch during the course of official business
No offer of a more substantial gift or hospitality should be lightly accepted.
Legal position
Due consideration must always be given to the possible bearing of the criminal law on the actions of civil servants. You should be aware that acts of theft are covered by the Theft Act 1968 and acts of fraud are covered by the Fraud Act 2006.
It is also important to be aware of the legal position in respect of corruption. This states that it is an offence against the Bribery Act 2010 for any civil servant, in his or her official capacity, corruptly to accept any gift or consideration as an inducement or reward for:
- “Doing, or refraining from doing, anything”
- “Showing favour or disfavour to any person”
Any money, gift or consideration received by a member of staff from a person or organisation holding or seeking to obtain a government contract will be deemed by the courts to have been received corruptly unless the employee proves the contrary.
The purpose of the Bribery Act is to reform the criminal law of bribery to provide for a new consolidated scheme of bribery offences to cover bribery both in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Responsibilities
The primary responsibility for deciding whether to accept such an offer, or an unsolicited gift, lies with you, in consultation with your managers. In deciding how to respond you should act in accordance with the principles set out above, with the following guidance and with any supplementary cultural guidance issued by local management if overseas. If there is any doubt, the only safe course is to decline. You should consult with your activity managers in the first instance, and with your development manager if your Activity Managers are unsure. Your Deputy Director should be consulted if you or your managers feel that there are circumstances surrounding a particular gift or occasion which are not covered by the principles stated, or the following advice, and which merit special consideration.
All individuals
The Civil Service Management Code sets out the obligations of all civil servants when considering matters of propriety:
Civil servants must not receive gifts, hospitality or benefits of any kind from a third party which might be seen to compromise their personal judgement or integrity.
All employees should be aware of the dangers of a potential conflict between personal and official interests. It is essential that all employees familiarise themselves with the ACME Conflicts of Interest policy and take any relevant action as advised by their Deputy Director.
Permanent Secretary
The Permanent Secretary has responsibility for an annual review of the gifts and hospitality registers.
Finance
The relevant Budget Manager in Finance will be able to advise you on the budget implications for hospitality or gift purchasing.
Human Resources
HR has responsibility for the Gifts and Hospitality policy and for the maintenance of the Register of occasions where gifts have been accepted or refused.
Directors
Cases which fall outside the circumstances set out in this Gifts and Hospitality policy should be sent to the relevant Director, via your Deputy Director, for prior approval. The Director will normally be within your Activity Management chain, as they will best understand the sensitivities of the area in which you work. However, this may not always be the case and you should seek advice from whoever is best equipped to make an informed decision.
Deputy Directors
Deputy Directors have responsibility to ensure that gifts and hospitality are logged on the HR register, and to advise individuals of when accepting or refusing gifts and hospitality is the best course of action.
Ministers
Ministers should refer to guidance on gifts and hospitality in the Ministerial Code.
Special Advisers
This guidance also applies to Special Advisors, who are regarded by the “Code of Conduct for Special Advisers” as temporary civil servants.
Checks and audits
ACME frequently conducts Internal Audits to ensure that the department is compliant with the rules and principles of propriety set out in this policy, especially around gifts and hospitality received and given by our people. Wherever unsure, you should seek advice from the relevant Deputy Director, Budget Manager in Finance, or HR.
The register for gifts and hospitality
Maintenance of a register for gifts and hospitality is critical to ensure that ACME can demonstrate its propriety in accepting or rejecting offers:
- The acceptance of hospitality by civil servants can sometimes be the subject of criticism. It is very much in the interests of individuals and the department that such criticism should be convincingly rebutted. To help counter any suspicion of corruption or improper conduct, all offers of hospitality should be recorded by the maintenance of a hospitality register, which will be maintained by HR.
- There may be occasions where undue pressures to accept offers of hospitality are brought to bear on staff. The way these situations are handled will depend partly on the nature of the hospitality offered, and on the particular circumstances in which the hospitality is offered. Staff should if possible consult their manager before accepting the hospitality if they feel they are being placed under undue pressure.
- Offers of hospitality should be reported to management at the earliest opportunity. It may be that the body/person offering the hospitality can be made aware of the undue pressure placed on the relevant employee. Again if this is not possible, the offer of hospitality must be recorded and if a pattern of placing staff under undue pressure occurs the relevant Deputy Director should inform the appropriate person in the organisation concerned.
The register records:
- the date of receipt/event
- details of gift/hospitality
- the names of the individuals receiving the gift/hospitality
- whether the offer was accepted or declined
- reasons for accepting/declining
- the estimated value of the gift/hospitality
- that approval for keeping the gift has been granted by Deputy Director or relevant SCS
- an explanation of what has happened to the gift and where or how the gift has been disposed of
Management of the register
- HR will review the register at least twice a year to assess compliance with the guidelines, to gauge the potential for conflicts of interest to arise and to provide overall consistency. When the review has been completed HR will certify the register and record any comments. This will be reviewed by Corporate Committee on an annual basis to ensure compliance, and published in line with any Cabinet Office transparency requirements.
- Corporate Committee will also check these registers at least once a year to ensure that Deputy Directors are meeting the above requirement and endorse the register to make clear that they have done so.
- Directors and Deputy Directors are also subject to the gifts and hospitality regime in the same way as all members of staff. They should set up their own register or opt to use one of the registers within their area of command. Where they opt not to have their own register and record more than one item they should use the same register.
