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The independent Committee on Standards in Public Life has today announced that it will be carrying out a new review looking at accountability within public bodies and the importance of acting on early warning signs.

The Committee has today published the Terms of Reference for this project and will carry out an open consultation as part of its evidence gathering.

The Committee expects to publish a report with best practice for public sector organisations in Spring 2025.

Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Doug Chalmers said:

听 鈥淲hen things go wrong, it is important to understand what happened and why.听 Accountability is one of the Seven Principles of Public Life. But all too often public inquiries after a major failure reveal that problems were known about or there was information within the organisation that was not acted on quickly enough. The human cost of these failures - as well as the financial cost to the taxpayer - is too much. And as Artificial Intelligence becomes more embedded across the public sector, it is important to better understand what accountability for decision making, when AI is involved, means.

鈥業n all organisations things go wrong from time to time. How quickly problems are picked up matters - as well as whether the organisational culture is one that enables and encourages an effective and appropriate response.

鈥淭he public sector is uniquely complex, with a variety of accountability mechanisms for decision-making and services. This review will look at how public bodies can do their best to ensure that issues are uncovered and addressed rapidly.听 Its purpose is to share best practice on how organisations build and maintain systems of internal accountability that enable timely decision making, supporting proper scrutiny of their decision making.听

鈥淲e won鈥檛 be re-investigating previous failures or repeating the work of public inquiries; this work is aimed at encouraging more effective accountability, within public bodies, so that problems are addressed before catastrophic failure.听

鈥淚 would encourage people to look at the Terms of Reference we have published today. We really want to hear from anyone who has experience or examples to share with us about how we drive stronger accountability within public bodies.鈥�

The Committee鈥檚 report will be presented to the Prime Minister and published on the Committee鈥檚 website in Spring 2025.

Download the Terms of Reference

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Seven principles of public life

Notes to Editors

1. Interview requests and media enquiries should go to Maggie O鈥橞oyle on 07880 740627.
2. The independent Committee on Standards in Public Life advises the Prime Minister on arrangements for upholding ethical standards of conduct across public life in England.听
3. The current members of the Committee are: Doug Chalmers CB DSO OBE (Chairman), The Rt Hon Lady Mary Arden of Heswall DBE, Rt Hon Dame Margaret Beckett GBE MP (Labour), Rt Hon Ian Blackford MP (Scottish National Party) Ewen Fergusson, Baroness (Simone) Finn (Conservative), John Henderson CB, and Professor Gillian Peele.
4. You can follow the Committee on Twitter 听
5. Read the