30 January 2004
The civil service code governing the conduct of Whitehall's top officials must be sharpened up in the wake of the Hutton Inquiry, according to the senior civil servants' union. FDA general secretary Jonathan Baume told Public Finance the code needed to be clarified so that civil servants understand the rules, which are written into the terms and conditions of their contracts. He said it must also be more prominent to ensure that staff fully understood their responsibilities.
'We need to make sure that everyone really understands the code, and everyone knows what to do if they feel they may have a problem. It needs to have a much higher profile and this is something that the civil service commissioners have been saying as well.'
The Cabinet Office is believed to be considering introducing a new requirement on civil servants to log their contacts with the media, in the same way that they are required to register any hospitality they have received.
Baume spoke to PF on the day that Lord Hutton published the long-awaited findings of his inquiry into the death of government scientist David Kelly.
In his report he exonerated Prime Minister Tony Blair and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon of any 'dishonourable, underhand or duplicitous' behaviour.
But he castigated the BBC for its 'defective' editorial processes.
The Ministry of Defence also came in for some criticism, for failing to keep Kelly properly informed of developments.
'The MoD was at fault and is to be criticised for not informing Dr Kelly that its press office would confirm his name if a journalist suggested it,' his report said. '[It] must have given rise to a feeling that he had been badly let down by his employer.'
Hutton also said the ministry was 'at fault' for not setting up a procedure to inform Kelly as soon as his name had been confirmed to journalists, and for taking 90 minutes to notify him once that had happened.
But he went out of his way to list the 'mitigating circumstances' in the MoD's defence, saying that Kelly's exposure was just one factor causing him stress, and that individual MoD officials 'did try to help and support him'.
Hutton went on: 'Because of his intensely private nature, Dr Kelly was not an easy man to help or to whom to give advice.'
An MoD spokesman refused to comment.
PFjan2004
