This report reviews the progress made in implementing previous recommendations of the Committee regarding the activities of the Executive branch of government and, in particular, the relationship between the roles of Ministers, special advisers and civil servants. It focuses on four of the seven principles of public life identified by the Nolan Committee in 1995, namely leadership, objectivity and impartiality, accountability, and openness. The Committee's report makes 34 recommendations which include: that special advisers should be defined as a new category of government servant distinct from the Civil Service, and a clear statement of conduct detailing what they cannot do should be set out in primary legislation, including having no role in the line management of civil servants. Other recommendations include a requirement for an annual statement to Parliament setting out information on special advisers including their number, cost and responsibilities; the creation of parliamentary powers to set an upper limit on the total number of special advisers; and the amendment of the Ministerial Code to clarify that Ministers are accountable to the Prime Minister and to Parliament for the management and discipline of their special advisers.