The Committee calls for better and more accessible procedures for civil servants to raise concerns about the conduct of government. A route should to be established whereby evidence that a minister had misled Parliament or the public could be reported to Parliament following a complaint by a civil servant. Leaks damage trust within government and trust in government. The Committee concludes that leak investigations are often hamstrung by the fact that many leaks are politically motivated, including leaks from ministers and special advisers. The most effective way to prevent leaks by civil servants is to have accessible, effective and visible ways for individuals to raise concerns about the conduct of government, either internally or through an external oversight body, the Civil Service Commissioners. The report makes the following key recommendations: the Civil Service Commissioners should have the power to report to Parliament evidence indicating that the government was misleading Parliament or the public or the fact that the Civil Service has refused to act on a justified complaint; the Commissioners should also conduct independent investigation of breaches of confidentiality by special advisers; the leaking of information should only be a criminal matter where there is a breach of the Official Secrets Act or there is evidence of serious criminal misconduct; the Cabinet Office, Heads of Departments and the Civil Service Commissioners should do more to ensure that potential whistleblowers know how to raise concerns and have the confidence to come forward with them.

This book is the first of its kind to provide an in-depth treatment of the law of unauthorised disclosures in the United Kingdom. Drawing upon extensive data obtained using freedom of information as a methodology and examples from comparative jurisdictions, the book considers the position of civil servants, employees of the security and intelligence services and service personnel in the armed forces. It considers the protections available, the consequences of leaking and a full assessment of the authorised alternatives.

This thoroughly revised and updated second edition of Civil Service Systems in Western Europe presents a comprehensive overview of the important issues in modern bureaucracies and provides a comparative analysis of the civil service systems of various Western European nations.

Incorporating HC 1040-i, ii and ii, session 2008-09. About the police search on 27 November 2009 of the Parliamentary offices of Damian Green MP, who had been leaked some restricted papers by a Home Office official

This report calls for a Top Pay Commission to 'name and shame' public sector organisations that pay excessive salaries to their top officials. The Commission would produce principles and benchmarks to be followed by pay setters and would be able to launch investigations where these were breached. PASC believes a Top Pay Commission would ensure greater coherence to the setting of top pay across the public sector. PASC concludes that massive increases in private sector executive salaries over the last ten years have led to smaller, but sometimes still very large, increases at the top of the public sector. This 'contagion effect' has meant that the highest salaries in both sectors have increased much faster than average earnings. PASC also identified a number of weaknesses with current arrangements for setting pay in the public sector. These include variable levels of transparency, tensions between devolved and centralised pay setting systems, a perception that some public servants have been rewarded for failure and a tendency for some parts of the public sector to compete against others for a small number of experienced candidates, rather than growing talent internally. Some of the Committee's other key recommendations include: a call for better human resource management across the public sector, to ensure talent is promoted from within and failure is not rewarded; recommendations that would lead to publication of salaries and bonuses across the public sector more in line with the requirements placed on listed companies; and a proposal to ensure all public sector executive reward packages are drawn up either by independent bodies or remuneration committees with a majority of independent members

Lobbying : Developments since the Committee's first report of session 2008-09, fifth report of Session 2009-10

This report examines the practice of recruiting externally to the senior civil service (SCS). Outside recruitment has been used to fill skills shortages and to bring new perspectives to government, but has also been criticised for potentially diluting core civil service values and for being poor value for money. PASC concludes that the senior civil service has depended too heavily on external recruitment in recent years, and should now take steps to reduce its reliance on outside appointments. PASC also found that external recruits do not appear to perform better than career civil servants - despite being paid more, on average - and many leave civil service employment relatively quickly. Nonetheless, given the existence of skills gaps and the other benefits that external recruits can bring, PASC believes that there will continue to be a place for outside appointments in civil service recruitment. PASC further concludes that the extent of recent external recruitment is symptomatic of a wider concern: the ability of the civil service to identify its current and future skills needs, and to plan effectively to meet those needs. PASC recommends that the emphasis of civil service employment policy should be on developing its own people and skills, rather than seeking to draw these in from outside.