The Committee on Standards in Public Life’s ‘Leading in Practice’ report
The Committee on Standards in Public Life has published its ‘Leading in Practice’ report.
The purpose of the report is to encourage leaders in the public sector to reflect on their own ethical leadership and consider whether they can do more to ensure that the Principles of Public Life are understood and embedded into all aspects of how their organisations operate.
Seven Principles of Public Life
The Committee on Standards in Public Life (‘the Committee’) was established in 1994 and in 1995 Lord Nolan, the inaugural Chair, set out the Committee’s first report which included his Seven Principles of Public Life:
- Selflessness
- Integrity
- Objectivity
- Accountability
- Openness
- Honesty
- Leadership
The Seven Principles of Public Life are the principles of conduct that apply to all public office holders and those delivering public services.
Leading in Practice
In March 2022, the Committee, now Chaired by Lord Evans of Weardale, announced that it would be carrying out a review to examine the role of leadership in embedding the Seven Principles of Public Life in public sector organisations.
The ‘Leading in Practice’ report is the outcome of the Committee’s review into how a variety of organisations in the public, private and charitable sectors have sought to build ethical values into their policies and ways of working. The report contains real-life case studies and questions for leaders in the public sector which are intended to prompt discussion and reflection on leadership and organisational practices.
The report is divided into the following chapters:
- Values and the public sector
- Communicating values and leading by example
- Encouraging a ‘speak up’ culture
- Training, discussion and decision-making
- Governance
- Recruitment and performance management
ICAS provided evidence to the Committee’s review. In the ‘Training, discussion and decision-making’ chapter, the report notes that CA Students must pass a Public Trust and Ethics exam to qualify to become a CA and refers to the mandatory ethics CPD requirement for Members.
The leadership role of professions is also discussed in the report with ICAS being included as a case study (Appendix 1: Case study 4). The case study explains that through its ‘The Power of One’ business ethics initiative, ICAS encourages all Chartered Accountants to take personal responsibility for practising the ethical principles of their profession in the organisation within which they work.
ICAS ethics resources
Find out more about the ethics resources ICAS provides to support its Members here.