Report suggests how civil servants could raise ethical concerns in public

Civil servants could be given a way to publicly flag concerns about integrity if ministers' requests would require them to breach ethical codes, a report has suggested.

- Rowena Mason

The paper, by Marcial Boo, a former head of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, said civil servants could write open letters, known as ministerial directions, to highlight their worries about matters of integrity.

These are public letters that are used by civil servants to warn that they are being asked to approve projects that are not value for money - but could be extended to cover ethical dilemmas.

Boo, who is now chair of the Institute of Regulation, also raised the idea that civil servants and politicians should undertake practical training on ethics, saying it is "not enough for induction and training to involve an emailed copy of the Nolan principles".

It comes after civil servants repeatedly raised private concerns under the last government about work that Boris Johnson's administration was asking them to carry out on Brexit and the Rwanda scheme, with fears they were being asked to breach international law.

Boo said it was natural that civil servants were held to a higher ethical standard than politicians, who often have to make messy compromises.