How to be a Civil Servant

Accountability, Propriety and Audit

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This note takes a look at what is meant by concepts such as accountabilty, regularity and propriety. I offer the following conclusions and, as ever, would be glad to be corrected (by email to martin@civilservant.org.uk) if I am wrong.

Accountability means being held to account, scrutinised, and being required to give an account or explanation. Civil Servants are accountable upwards through audit and Parliamentary scrutiny, and outwards through transparency and openness to stakeholders and to the public at large.

The main routes for upwards accountability are the Public Accounts Committee (the PAC) (assisted by the National Audit Office - the NAO), other Select Committees, Parliamentary Questions and debates, correspondence with MPs, and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration - the "Parliamentary Ombudsman".

The main routes for outwards accountability include annual reports, correspondence etc. with the public, consultation etc. processes, and Judicial Review. We can also choose to be accountable via media of our choice, and we should for this purpose choose media that will not use their relationship with us merely for entertainment or to boost circulation.

We are accountable for three things:-

The following "Seven Principles of Public Life" were endorsed in the Nolan Report as encapsulating the values and behaviour appropriate to the public sector:

A useful short version of all the above is as follows.

Comment

The extent and nature of the above lists no doubt contribute to the caution of senior civil servants. But it is worth pointing out that none of the bodies to whom we are accountable can actually discipline or dismiss us. Their power is merely to criticise and shame us, although the fear of this is quite enough to keep most of us in line.

It follows that this power is only effective if the audience that hears the criticism believes that blame has been fairly allocated. MPs very occasionally appear to cross-examine officials in unfair or unreasonable ways, or seek to criticise officials when they cannot get at responsible Ministers, or at responsible civil servants. Such behaviour certainly catches the attention of Whitehall - and the resultant video gets widely shown - but the victims usually receive considerable sympathy and their "accountability" leads neither to career detriment nor to any change in the behaviour of the victims or others.

The power of accountability is also ineffective when a civil servant simply does not care about the rules, and either believes that they will get away with it, or does not fear the consequences if they are caught out. The essential safeguard in these circumstances is the audit process backed up by effective management - backed up by careful selection processes when senior civil servants are appointed from outside the Service. The Civil Service itself, and the Civil Service Commissioners, are thus themselves an integral part of the structure of accountability.

Further Reading

There is good general guidance in "Propriety and Audit in the Public Sector" published by the NAO-chaired Public Audit Forum in August 2001. Copies available by ringing 020 7798 7529.

Detailed guidance is available in the following documents, all on the Cabinet Office or Treasury web sites.

 

 

Martin Stanley


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