Letter from Lord Evans, Chair of the Committee, to the Prime Minister about Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests

Lord Evans has written to the Prime Minister to draw attention to the Committee’s ongoing review of the arrangements for upholding ethical standards in public life, Standards Matter 2, and particularly the role of the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests.

In order to facilitate the timely appointment of a new Independent Adviser, the Committee has made a number of recommendations, informed by the evidence that the Committee has now taken from a wide range of witnesses including former Independent Advisers and former Cabinet Secretaries, as part of that review.

We recommend that the Adviser is given the authority to initiate investigations where, in their judgement, that is necessary in order to establish the facts surrounding allegations that the Ministerial Code had been breached. We also recommend that the Independent Adviser should have the discretion to decide that an allegation requires no further investigation.

We recommend the Adviser should be able to publish a summary of their findings but that published findings should not include any comment on sanction. The Prime Minister should retain the right to decide on any sanction following a breach of the Code but the current expectation that any breach should lead to resignation is disproportionate. We recommend that there should be a proportionate range of sanctions where the Code has been breached.

We also recommend the Adviser should be appointed for a non-renewable five-year term.