FDA General Secretary Dave Penman welcomed the “comprehensive report” from the Committee on Standards in Public Life on Upholding Standards in Public Life, saying it details “where urgent action is needed to restore public faith in those either elected or appointed to serve the public’s interests”.
Penman argued that the report’s nine recommendations on the Ministerial Code “could not come at a more opportune time”, with the FDA’s recent survey of members showing that 85% of senior civil servants – those working closest to ministers – had no faith in the code as a means of regulation of ministerial behaviour.
He also told the Guardian that “there can be no hiding from the fact that the current Prime Minister has undermined confidence in the Ministerial Code as a meaningful regulator of ministerial conduct”, but pointed out that existing arrangements already fell short of the independence required to be effective:
“As the committee recognises, the independent process that has now been established in Parliament, whilst far from perfect, provides a model for the approach that the public can rightly expect to regulating and enforcing standards on those they elect to serve their interests.”
Yesterday, FDA staff and reps attended the 2026 Fast Stream annual Base Camp, welcoming this year’s new joiners to the scheme and sharing the benefits of FDA membership with them.
The FDA’s National Officer for Northern Ireland Robert Murtagh has written to Speaker of the Assembly, Edwin Poots, asking him to remind MLAs that when officials appear before the Assembly, impartiality must not be brought into question.
If Prime Minister Andy Burnham wants a different political culture, he needs to start with the Ministerial Code says Dave Penman.
