The fair trading watchdog said that raw information held by the public sector was not as easily available as it should be. Licensing arrangements were restrictive, prices were not always linked to costs, and information holders might be charging higher prices to competing businesses and giving them less attractive terms than their own value-added operations.
Source: The Commercial Use of Public Information, Office of Fair Trading (0870 606 0321)
Links: Report | OFT press release
Date: 2006-Dec
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the Freedom of Information Act. It said that it shared the overall assessment of the committee that the implementation of the Act had been a significant success . But it also said that it was minded to accept the recommendations of an independent review (published simultaneously), which suggested widening exemptions on grounds of cost from the duty to provide access to official information.
Source: Government Response to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee Report: 'Freedom of Information: One Year On', Cm 6937, Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Frontier Economics, Independent Review of the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act, Department for Constitutional Affairs (020 7210 8500)
Links: Response | MPs report | DCA press release | Review report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Oct
A think-tank report said that, in spite of its many qualities, the senior civil service was still too often 'amateur' and insular, and poor at strategic thinking, leadership, and performance management. Top civil servants themselves felt they were not held accountable for poor performance, and that parliamentary scrutiny of them was ineffective.
Source: Guy Lodge and Ben Rogers, Whitehall's Black Box: Accountability and performance in the senior civil service, Institute for Public Policy Research, available from Central Books (0845 458 9911)
Links: Summary | IPPR press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Aug
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman criticized a number of government departments for taking a "negative and defensive" approach to its investigations.
Source: Making a Difference: Annual Report 2005-06, HC 1363 (Session 2005-06), Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Summary | Ombudsman press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that the new freedom of information law was generally working well: but some government departments and other public bodies were breaking the spirit of the law and delaying replies to requests. It criticized the information watchdog for not doing enough to resolve complaints quickly.
Source: Freedom of Information - One Year On, Seventh Report (Session 2005-06), HC 991, House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jun
The government announced that the head of the National Audit Office would take charge of policing conflicts of interest for Ministers. He would advise Ministers on potential clashes between their public duties and private interests, and investigate any claims that the rules on ministerial conduct had been broken. The announcement followed questions over whether a Minister (Tessa Jowell) had been involved in her husband's financial affairs, giving rise to a conflict of interest.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 23 March 2006, columns 33-34WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | CSPL press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
The watchdog for standards in public life said that it would continue to press for changes to the system for inquiries into allegations of breaches of the ministerial code. There should be an independent investigation of the facts surrounding an allegation. The report of the investigation would be published but the Prime Minister would continue to take the decision about a Minister's future.
Source: Annual Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life 2005, Committee on Standards in Public Life (0800 692 1516)
Links: Report | CSPL press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Mar
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on ministerial accountability and parliamentary questions.
Source: Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions: Government Response to the Committee's Fifth Report, Second Special Report, (Session 2005-06), HC 853, House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2006-Feb
The government began consultation on a new Civil Service Code, setting out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
Source: Draft Civil Service Code, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Consultation document | Cabinet Office press release | Text of speech
Date: 2006-Jan
A series of articles examined ethical standards in government and public life.
Source: Public Money and Management, Volume 26 Issue 1
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2006-Jan