The independent Committee on Standards in Public Life announced that it will be carrying out a new review looking at public bodies accountability within public bodies and the importance of acting on early warning signs. Our charity director, Sian Gissing-McMeel drafted a response and submitted to the Committee in the hope they implement the changes. 

 

The Committee on Standards in Public Life Accountability within public bodies - acting on early warning signs

 

To: Committee on Standards in Public Life:

Email: public@public-standards.gov.uk

 

Open Consultation Reply by Sian Gissing-McMeel, Director at The Access To Justice For Families Foundation.

 

Contact Email: info@accesstojusticeforfamilies.com

Website: www.accesstojusticeforfamilies.com

 

The Seven Principles of Public Life   Accountability:   Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.

 

Response to ‘Committee on Standards in Public Life’ Consultation Questions: -

 

1. ‘What are the main reasons why public bodies might fail to act quickly and decisively at the first sign of a problem within the organisation?

 

2. In my own personal experience and experience as a legal consultant, the main reason as to why public bodies might fail to act quickly and decisively at the first sign of a problem within the organisation is due to the lack of awareness, comprehension of ‘The 7 Nolan Principles of Public Life’. There have been examples of this lack of comprehension can be highlighted in discussion with Avon and Somerset Police, and Cleveland Police Constabulary’s staff within the last three years. When I personally mentioned ‘The 7 Nolan Principles of Public Life’, to the police staff, they instantly took a defence approach stating ‘I do not know what they are’. In particular in 2021, I was falsely labelled ‘manic’ for daring to bring up these standards. I have seen this again in cases that come through my charity. In early June 2024, I spoke to Cleveland Police to assist a member of the public, trying to report a crime. The police officer in question did not even know about the ‘The 7 Nolan Principles of Public Life’. He quoted ‘I have never heard of them’. The Cleveland police officer had served over 15 years in the police and had zero comprehension of the ‘The 7 Nolan Principles of Public Life’. Therefore, in answer to the Committees question, the main issue is lack of awareness that ‘The 7 Nolan Principles of Public Life’ existence, which leads to the lack of decisiveness as they are not educated, informed or aware of the principles, meaning public bodies cannot identify the problem, they do not know what they are breaching, so cannot provide solutions in the public interests.

 

3. Can you describe any examples of practice measures used by public bodies to ensure that employees are guided by the Nolan Principles at critical decision points, including but not limited to decision making models, codes of conduct, guidance and training?

 

4. In my own personal experience, working with Litigants In Person though the charity, the only practical measures in place is members of the general public informing public bodies staff members of Nolan Principles in writing and in most cases adding the link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life/the-7-principles-of-public-life--2 within their complaints correspondence in the hope this has some traction towards the employees. Unfortunately, is does nothing to help or assist the public employees in adhering to the Nolan Principles. In almost every case I have seen and consultant on, the general public and Litigants In Persons are ignored, silenced and blocked from having access to justice they so desperately deserve to correct the miscarriages of justice. Upon review of the Police, HMCTS, Judiciary, The Law Society, The Bar Standards Council, Local Authorities, there is no reference anywhere on their websites, ‘Terms and Conditions’, ‘Privacy Policy’, ‘Complaints Procedures’ of their duties under the Nolan Principles.

 

5. Clear Awareness In the Public Interests:
6. Therefore, this would be an important ‘practice measure’ to implement to all public bodies moving forward. It must be made mandatory that on every public body website, there is a clear page dedicated to ‘The 7 Nolan Principles’ either in the websites header or footer to make it easy accessible for the general public.

 

7. Training & Designated Officer of Nolan Principles Accountability:

 

 

8. The second practice measure is that every staff member of public office needs to have training on the Nolan Principles, what they mean, why they are in place and the consequences of breaching them. Malfeasance, Misconduct of Public Office which is a criminal offence set out by the CPS https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/misconduct-public-office .

 

9. Nolan Principles Public Register:
10. Thirdly, there needs to be a designated ‘Misconduct of Public Office’ Advocate within each legal department of the public bodies, to act as mediator for general public complaints and also to work with the head of HR to ensure that internal provisions are in place for internal staff review, disciplinary procedures, such as verbal warnings, written warning, then immediate dismissal and immediate referral to the DPP at the CPS for prosecution for multiple breaches of ‘Misconduct of Public Office’, in the public interests to restore trust, transparency. All referrals of ‘Misconduct of Public Office’ are to be named on a public registry which is accessible via the public bodies websites and government website managed by the ‘Committee On Standards of Public Life’.

 

11. The above is not currently in existence within any public body.

 

12. Q3: Public bodies are required to manage a variety of risks to the successful delivery of public services. What role can data play in understanding these risks?

 

13. As per the Home Affairs Committee Report 1,2, and 3 produced by Parliament in 1998, in the 3^rd Report as para 1 it stated: -

 

14. In its report, the Committee made this principal recommendation: "that police officers, magistrates, judges and Crown Prosecutors should be required to register membership of any secret society and that the record should be available publicly. However, it is our firm belief that the better solution lies in the hands of freemasonry itself. By openness and disclosure, all suspicion would be removed and we would welcome the taking of such steps by the United Grand Lodge."

 

15. This recommendation is consistent with the evidence given to the Committee by the then official Opposition that "membership of the freemasons (and any other similar organisation) should be a declarable and registrable interest" (HC 192-II, Appendix 25, page 139).

 

 

16. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmselect/cmhaff/577s1/has103.htm

 

17. It would be beneficial to the public to use the data of freemasonry membership when holding a position of Public Office by way of generating a Public Register in the public interests to restore trust, transparency in accordance to the rule of law and democracy.

 

18. Q4: Are you aware of any examples of organisations that have good processes in place for identifying patterns and spotting problems that need addresses?

 

19. No, there are no organisations that adhered to the Misconduct of Office and 7 Nolan Principles.

 

20. What practices and behaviours can the boards of public bodies adopt to ensure that they have proper oversight of the organisations?

 

21. Suggestions are provided above.

 

22. How should public sector bodies conduct their annual board effectiveness evaluations? What does best practice look like?

 

23. The annual meetings should be made online and open to the general public to attend for truth transparency and trust to be restored. Recordings of the annual meetings should be made available online, via social media platforms. The Court of Appeal live stream some of their cases online via YouTube. The meeting minutes should be published publicly and all public bodies must upload them on to their websites under the 7 Nolan Principles website pages to keep the public up to date and informed.

 

24. Q7: Accountability in public life can sometimes be associated with blame. How can public bodies build a culture where people feel safe to speak up about concerns, allowing problems to be addressed early and lessons to be learned?

 

25. In the interests of public disclosure to prevent the crime of Misconduct In Public office, there needs to be protection for whilst blowers and general public. The law is in place for this pursuant to The Public Disclosure Act 1998. There needs to be protections put in place for anyone disclosure to prevent any gang stalking, covert attacks on that person when making disclosures. We would suggest that there is a register of Whilst blowers held at the Committee on Standards In Public Life, once the name of the person disclosing is registered, that person has full state protection from vexatious lawfare unlawful prosecution for raising their concerns. It is made public through the media that disclosure has been made and a full investigation is being conducted, so that person has protection in the public interests. The state must provide protection to people disclosing against powerful public bodies if the Committee is interested in cleaning up the corruption within the system. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/23/contents

 

26. Q8: The Nolan Principles of honesty and openness require public bodies to be transparent about how they operate and the decisions they make on behalf of the public. Are you aware of any examples of organisations exhibiting good practice in this area?

 

27. No public bodies that I have dealt with is aware of the 7 Nolan Principles of public life. Included Avon and Somerset Police, Cleveland Police, Humberside Police, Manchester Police, MET Police, Scotland Yard, JCIO, IPT, ICO, CPS Cafcass, Local Authorities, HMCTS. They are do not know or comprehend the importance of the 7 Nolan Principles of Public Life. It is very concerning.

 

Thank you for reading and considering the points I have raised to the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

 

Yours faithfully.

 

Sian Gissing-McMeel

Director