On 22 September TINZ ran an online Leaders Integrity Forum (LIF) just for Public Sector Chief Executives. It was chaired by Auditor-General John Ryan.
Public Sector Chief Executive time is in high demand, and so we absolutely had to offer something special for them to prioritise the LIF in their schedules.
Lord Jonathan Evans KCB DL more than met that challenge, having had extensive experience as a senior public leader in the UK. This in turn deepened the discussion by the participants.
Lord Evans is Chair of the United Kingdom Committee on Standards in Public Life. This Committee advises the UK Prime Minister on ethical standards across public life. He spoke to Leading in Practice, a review by the Committee into how a variety of organisations have sought to integrate ethical values into their policies and ways of working. He also reflected on how public sector leadership in the UK is responding to long term intractable issues and current challenges.
The Leading in Practice review explores practical steps leaders can take to ensure that rules on conduct are given meaning by a shared understanding of the ethical values that underpin them. The report concludes that effective regulation and an ethical culture are both needed for high public standards. Rules and regulations, whilst important, will only take an organisation so far.
Lord Evans referred attendees to the Seven Principles of Public Life, which underpin the review. These are also known as the Nolan Principles, developed in 1995, and they still hold true. Those principles are Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty and Leadership.
