What next for standards in public life?

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Thirty years ago, following a series of high-profile political scandals, John Major set up the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) to advise him – and future prime ministers – on ethics and behaviour. So has the CSPL been a success – and what might come next for standards in public life?

Over the last three decades the committee has been an influential voice on the standards expected of people in public office, including setting out the seven principles of public life that apply to politicians, public officials and frontline staff and the establishment of standards regulators including the parliamentary commissioner and the Electoral Commission.

However, recent scandals like ‘partygate’ and controversies over the acceptance of gifts, alongside reports from the infected blood and Grenfell inquiries, demonstrate that work on embedding transparency and ethical behaviour remains unfinished.

How can the committee respond to challenges posed by increased use of AI in the public sector? What more could be done to build greater trust in politicians and public services? And what difference could the Labour government’s planned Ethics and Integrity Commission make?

To answer these questions, and more, we were joined by:

• Doug Chalmers CB DSO OBE, Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life
• Pippa Crerar, Political Editor at The Guardian
• Daniel Greenberg CB, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
• Dame Glenys Stacey, Chair of the Office for Environmental Protection

The event was chaired by Tim Durrant, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. 

Photos from this event are available on our Flickr.