The Good Governance Standard for Public Services

Transcription

1 The Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services The Independent Commission on Good Governance in Pblic Services

2 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services OPM and CIPFA, 2004 OPM (Office for Pblic Management Ltd) 252b Gray s Inn Road London WC1X 8XG tel: fax: office@opm.co.k web: CIPFA (The Chartered Institte of Pblic Finance and Accontancy) 3 Robert Street London WC2N 6RL tel: fax: web: ISBN: This book may not, in part or in whole, be copied, photocopied, translated or converted into any electronic or machine-readable form withot prior written permission from OPM or CIPFA. Design and layot by Amanda Little Printed by Hackney Press Ltd II

3 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services Contents Membership of the Commission...iv Foreword...v Abot the Commission...vi Using the Standard... 1 Principles of good governance Good governance means focsing on the organisation s prpose and on otcomes for citizens and service sers Being clear abot the organisation s prpose and its intended otcomes for citizens and service sers Making sre that sers receive a high qality service Making sre that taxpayers receive vale for money Good governance means performing effectively in clearly defined fnctions and roles Being clear abot the fnctions of the governing body Being clear abot the responsibilities of non-exectives and the exective, and making sre that those responsibilities are carried ot Being clear abot relationships between governors and the pblic Good governance means promoting vales for the whole organisation and demonstrating the vales of good governance throgh behavior Ptting organisational vales into practice Individal governors behaving in ways that phold and exemplify effective governance Good governance means taking informed, transparent decisions and managing risk Being rigoros and transparent abot how decisions are taken Having and sing good qality information, advice and spport Making sre that an effective risk management system is in operation Good governance means developing the capacity and capability of the governing body to be effective Making sre that appointed and elected governors have the skills, knowledge and experience they need to perform well Developing the capability of people with governance responsibilities and evalating their performance, as individals and as a grop Striking a balance, in the membership of the governing body, between continity and renewal Good governance means engaging stakeholders and making accontability real Understanding formal and informal accontability relationships Taking an active and planned approach to dialoge with and accontability to the pblic Taking an active and planned approach to responsibility to staff Engaging effectively with instittional stakeholders Appendix A: Assessment qestions for governors and governing bodies to ask themselves...27 Appendix B: Qestions for members of the pblic and their representatives to ask if they want to assess and challenge standards of governance III

4 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services Membership of the Commission Chair of the Commission Sir Alan Langlands, Principal and Vice Chancellor, University of Dndee Commission members Lord Richard Best, Director, Joseph Rowntree Fondation Sir Ian Blair, Depty Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service Mr Jim Colter, Chief Exective, National Hosing Federation Ms Lcy de Groot, Exective Director, Improvement and Development Agency Ms Liz Kerry, Chief Exective, Yorkshire and Hmber Assembly Mr Bob Kerslake, Chief Exective, Sheffield Conty Concil Mr Ed Mayo, Chief Exective, National Consmer Concil Dr Greg Parston, Exective Chairman, OPM Ms Bharti Patel, to October 2004 Director of Commnications, Ethnic Minority Fondation The Honorable Barbara Thomas, Depty Chair, Financial Reporting Concil and from September 2004 Chairman, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Athority Ms Jo Williams cbe, Chief Exective, Mencap Co-secretaries to the Commission Steve Freer, Chief Exective, CIPFA Adrienne Fresko cbe, Head of the Centre for Pblic Governance, OPM (to 30 September 2004) Jane Steele, Head of Pblic Interest Research, OPM (from 1 October 2004) Head of Research for the Commission Jane Steele, Head of Pblic Interest Research, OPM Research and spport team Kerry Ace, Finance and Policy Manager, CIPFA Andrea Carr, Project Administrator, OPM Robert Coffey, Researcher, OPM (from September 2004) Kerri Hampton, Senior Researcher, OPM (to September 2004) Sandra Harper, Grop Administrator, CIPFA Vernon Soare, Policy and Technical Director, CIPFA IV

5 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services Foreword By 2005/6, pblic expenditre in the UK will exceed 500 billion 1. How this money is spent and the qality of services it provides is critically important to s all as sers of services and as taxpayers. Becase of this we all need governance of or pblic services to be of a high standard. Good governance leads to good management, good performance, good stewardship of pblic money, good pblic engagement and, ltimately, good otcomes 2. The governors of or pblic service organisations face a difficlt task. They are the people responsible for governance the leadership, direction and control of the organisations they serve. Their responsibility is to ensre that they address the prpose and objectives of these organisations and that they work in the pblic interest. They have to bring abot positive otcomes for the people who se the services, as well as providing good vale for the taxpayers who fnd these services. They have to balance the pblic interest with their accontability to government and an increasingly complex reglatory environment, and motivate front-line staff by making sre that good exective leadership is in place. Governors sholder a heavy responsibility in relation to health, edcation, hosing, criminal jstice and many other aspects of pblic service. More than 450,000 people 3 contribte as governors to a wide range of pblic service organisations and partnerships. There is clear evidence that many have difficlties in flfilling these responsibilities 4. To help them with their tasks, there is an rgent and ongoing need to be clear abot the prpose of governance and the role of the governor, expand the spply of governors, improve indction programmes and encorage good relationships between governors and the exective teams who are accontable to them. It is perhaps srprising that there is no common code for pblic service governance to provide gidance across the complex and diverse world of pblic services, which are provided by the pblic sector and a range of other agencies. The Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services addresses this isse head on. It bilds on the Nolan principles 5 for the condct of individals in pblic life, by setting ot six core principles of good governance for pblic service organisations. It shows how these shold be applied if organisations are to live p to the Standard and provides a basis for the pblic to challenge sb-standard governance. I hope that the pblication of the Standard will encorage pblic bodies to review their own effectiveness, and that it will provide commissioners and reglators of pblic services with a common framework for assessing good governance practice. It has been a privilege to take part in this work and my personal thanks go to the members of the Commission, the Commission secretaries and the head of research, who simply want to help governors do a difficlt job better. I also grateflly acknowledge the spport provided by the Joseph Rowntree Fondation and the commitment of CIPFA (Chartered Institte of Pblic Finance and Accontancy) and OPM (Office for Pblic Management). Sir Alan Langlands Chair of the Commission Janary 2005 V

6 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services Abot the Commission The Independent Commission on Good Governance in Pblic Services was established by the Office for Pblic Management (OPM ) and the Chartered Institte of Pblic Finance and Accontancy (CIPFA), in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Fondation. The role of the Commission was to develop a common code and set of principles for good governance across pblic services. The Commission began work early in The first stage was to conslt a wide range of stakeholders, throgh face-to-face discssions and meetings arond the UK and a process of inviting written contribtions from all types of pblic service organisations. This consltation focsed on the potential vale of a common code or set of principles for governing all pblic services, and soght views on what the code shold inclde. Following this consltation, the Commission prodced a draft of the Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services. The draft was the sbject of a second rond of consltation in the atmn of This inclded meetings with service sers and citizens, to explore the potential vale of the Standard from their point of view. The Standard was then amended to reflect the views expressed in the consltation. Frther information abot the work of the Commission and the responses to both ronds of consltation are available at 1 Spending Review 2004, HM Treasry 2 For example, standards of corporate governance have a central place in the Adit Commission s comprehensive performance assessment of the qality of services provided by local athorities 3 Estimated nmber of members of governing bodies of pblic services in the UK 4 For example Rbber Stamped?, OPM, Committee on Standards in Pblic Life, 1995 VI

7 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services Using the Standard The prpose of the Standard We intend the Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services as a gide to help everyone concerned with the governance of pblic services not only to nderstand and apply common principles of good governance, bt also to assess the strengths and weaknesses of crrent governance practice and improve it. We hope that the Standard will be sefl to governors who are striving to do a difficlt job better, and to individals and grops who have an interest in scrtinising the effectiveness of governance. The Standard focses on the ways different fnctions of governance can spport each other. Governance is dynamic: good governance encorages the pblic trst and participation that enables services to improve; bad governance fosters the low morale and adversarial relationships that lead to poor performance or even, ltimately, to dysfnctional organisations. Scope of the Standard The Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services is intended for se by all organisations and partnerships that work for the pblic, sing pblic money. Most of these are pblic sector organisations whose services are sed directly by members of the pblic or who are responsible for less visible activities, sch as reglation and policy development. However, the se of pblic money to provide pblic services is not limited to the pblic sector. The pblic also has an interest in the governance of non-pblic sector organisations that spend pblic money, and the Standard is designed to help them too. Relationship with other codes and gidance While the Standard has a wide scope, it does not seek to dplicate the codes and gidance that already exist for some specific types of organisation. We hope that those who develop and set these codes will refer to the Standard in pdating and reviewing their own codes, and se it to enhance the debate abot governance within and between different sectors. Where codes and gidance do not already exist, as in many formal and informal partnerships, we hope that the Standard will provide a shared nderstanding of what constittes good governance. Applying the Standard to different governance strctres and sizes of organisation The principles form a niversal Standard of good governance and we encorage all organisations to show that they are ptting it into practice in a way that reflects their strctre and is proportionate to their size. We recognise that not all parts of the Standard will appear to be directly applicable to all types and size of organisation. 1

8 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services The many types of organisations to which the Standard applies central government and local service providers, and pblic sector and independent organisations have a wide range of governance strctres; for example, some governing bodies will be elected and some appointed. Organisations also vary enormosly in size and complexity, from, for example, a small school to a large hospital trst. We call on governing bodies to report pblicly on the extent to which they live p to the Standard, and explain why and how they have adapted any of the principles and their applications to sit their type and size of organisation. In doing so, we ask organisations to demonstrate the spirit and ethos of good governance, which the Standard aims to captre and which cannot be achieved by rles and procedres alone. Ptting the Standard into practice The Standard comprises six core principles of good governance, each with its spporting principles. The Application box next to each spporting principle explains what shold be done to pt it into practice. At the end of each section, good practice examples illstrate ways of ptting the principles into practice. Appendix A comprises qestions that governing bodies shold ask themselves to test how far they live p to the Standard, and to develop action plans for making any necessary improvements. Appendix B comprises qestions for members of the pblic or their representatives to ask if they want to nderstand or challenge the governance of pblic service organisations. We also sggest that organisations ask themselves these qestions to test their own openness and accontability to the pblic. The qestions cold be sed as a basis for freqently asked qestions (FAQs) on pblic websites. Terminology In order to be applicable to different kinds of organisation, the Standard ses some general terms, with the following definitions: Governing body: the body with overall responsibility for directing and controlling an organisation. For example, the police athority; the governors of a school; the board of a hosing association, an NHS trst or a non-departmental pblic body; the concil in local government Governor: member of the governing body, whether elected or appointed. For example, member of a police athority, school governor, board member of a hosing association or non-departmental pblic body, exective or non-exective director of an NHS trst, elected member or concillor of a local athority Non-exective: governors withot exective responsibilities (nonexective directors are sometimes referred to as independent directors) Exective: the senior staff of the organisation. Some types of boards inclde exective directors as governors. 2

9 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services The term exective has a different meaning in local government in England and Wales, where the exective comprises elected representatives. There are three possible strctres for the exective : a concil leader, elected by the fll concil, who appoints concillors to a cabinet; a directly elected mayor who appoints concillors to a cabinet; a directly elected mayor and a concil manager, who is an officer. In NHS fondation trsts, the governing body is the board of directors while the grop known as governors form a separate body. We hope that the Standard will help all those with an interest in pblic governance to assess good governance practice. Sir Alan Langlands Lord Richard Best Sir Ian Blair Mr Jim Colter Ms Lcy de Groot Ms Liz Kerry Mr Bob Kerslake Mr Ed Mayo Dr Greg Parston Ms Bharti Patel The Honorable Barbara Thomas Ms Jo Williams CBE Members of the Independent Commission on Good Governance in Pblic Services Janary

10 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services Principles of good governance The standard comprises six core principles of good governance, each with its spporting principles. 4

11 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services 1. Good governance means focsing on the organisation s prpose and on otcomes for citizens and service sers 1.1 Being clear abot the organisation s prpose and its intended otcomes for citizens and service sers 1.2 Making sre that sers receive a high qality service 1.3 Making sre that taxpayers receive vale for money 2. Good governance means performing effectively in clearly defined fnctions and roles 2.1 Being clear abot the fnctions of the governing body 2.2 Being clear abot the responsibilities of non-exectives and the exective, and making sre that those responsibilities are carried ot 2.3 Being clear abot relationships between governors and the pblic 3. Good governance means promoting vales for the whole organisation and demonstrating the vales of good governance throgh behavior 3.1 Ptting organisational vales into practice 3.2 Individal governors behaving in ways that phold and exemplify effective governance 4. Good governance means taking informed, transparent decisions and managing risk 4.1 Being rigoros and transparent abot how decisions are taken 4.2 Having and sing good qality information, advice and spport 4.3 Making sre that an effective risk management system is in operation 5. Good governance means developing the capacity and capability of the governing body to be effective 5.1 Making sre that appointed and elected governors have the skills, knowledge and experience they need to perform well 5.2 Developing the capability of people with governance responsibilities and evalating their performance, as individals and as a grop 5.3 Striking a balance, in the membership of the governing body, between continity and renewal 6. Good governance means engaging stakeholders and making accontability real 6.1 Understanding formal and informal accontability relationships 6.2 Taking an active and planned approach to dialoge with and accontability to the pblic 6.3 Taking an active and planned approach to responsibility to staff 6.4 Engaging effectively with instittional stakeholders 5

12 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services 6

13 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services 1. Good governance means focsing on the organisation s prpose and on otcomes for citizens and service sers The fnction of governance is to ensre that an organisation or partnership 6 flfils its overall prpose, achieves its intended otcomes for citizens and service sers, and operates in an effective, efficient and ethical manner 7. This principle shold gide all governance activity. Each organisation has its own prpose. There are also some general prposes that are fndamental to all pblic governance, inclding providing good qality services and achieving vale for money. The concept of pblic vale can be helpfl when thinking abot the niqe prpose of pblic services and therefore of their governance. Pblic vale refers to the things that pblic services prodce, either directly or indirectly, sing pblic money. Pblic vale incldes: otcomes (sch as improved health and improved safety); services (sch as primary care services and policing); and trst in pblic governance. 1.1 Being clear abot the organisation s prpose and its intended otcomes for citizens and service sers Having a clear organisational prpose and set of objectives is a hallmark of good governance. If this prpose is commnicated effectively, it can gide people s actions and decisions at all levels in an organisation. For many organisations, others (in particlar, central government 8 ) play a major role in determining policy and resorces and in setting or agreeing objectives. In these circmstances, it is critically important that there is a common view of the organisation s prposes and its intended otcomes. Application The governing body shold make sre that there is a clear statement of the organisation s prpose and that it ses this as a basis for its planning. It shold constantly review the decisions it takes, making sre that they frther the organisation s prpose and contribte to the intended otcomes for citizens and sers of services. 6 Throghot the docment, organisation shold be read to inclde partnership. 7 For example, a school s prpose might be to edcate children; its intended otcomes might inclde improved literacy and nmeracy of children by the age of Often described as a dominant stakeholder role. 7

14 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services 1.2 Making sre that sers receive a high qality service All pblic service organisations provide a service to other people and/or organisations, althogh not all provide services directly to members of the pblic. The qality of service is an important measre of how effective an organisation is, and so it is particlarly important in governance. Users of pblic services, nlike consmers in the private sector, sally have little or no option to go elsewhere for services or to withdraw payment 9. Providers of pblic services have fewer direct financial incentives than private companies to improve consmer satisfaction. Organisations that provide pblic services therefore need to take additional steps to ensre that services are of a high qality. Application The governing body shold decide how the qality of service for sers is to be measred and make sre that it has the information it needs to review service qality effectively and reglarly. As part of this, it shold ensre that it has processes in place to hear the views of sers and non-sers from all backgronds and commnities abot their needs, and the views of service sers from all backgronds abot the sitability and qality of services. The governing body shold se this information when making decisions abot service planning and improvement. 1.3 Making sre that taxpayers receive vale for money All organisations that spend pblic money, either in commissioning services or providing them directly, have a dty to strive for economy, efficiency and effectiveness in their work. Citizens and taxpayers have an important and legitimate interest in the vale for money provided by organisations that se pblic money. Application The governing body shold decide how vale for money is measred and make sre that it has the information it needs to review vale for money effectively, inclding information abot similar organisations, for comparison. It shold se this information when planning and reviewing the work of the organisation. Good practice examples: focsing on the organisation s prpose and on otcomes for citizens and service sers Compare information abot the efficiency, effectiveness and qality of service provided by similar organisations; analyse why levels of efficiency, effectiveness and qality are different elsewhere. Give non-exective directors a specific responsibility to ensre that information abot sers experiences is collected, broght to the attention of the governing body and sed in its decision making. 9 Government policy is to increase choice in pblic services; nevertheless, consmer choice is either not available or limited in most areas of pblic services. 8

15 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services 2. Good governance means performing effectively in clearly defined fnctions and roles Good governance reqires all concerned to be clear abot the fnctions of governance and their own roles and responsibilities and those of others, and to behave in ways that are consistent with those roles. Being clear abot one s own role, and how it relates to that of others, increases the chance of performing the role well. Clarity abot roles also helps all stakeholders to nderstand how the governance system works and who is accontable for what. 2.1 Being clear abot the fnctions of the governing body Members of governing bodies are elected or appointed to direct and control pblic service organisations in the pblic interest 10. The primary fnctions of the governing body are to: establish the organisation s strategic direction and aims, in conjnction with the exective ensre accontability to the pblic for the organisation s performance assre that the organisation is managed with probity and integrity. In order to direct strategy and ensre that this is implemented and that the organisation achieves its goals, the governing body has to: allocate resorces and monitor organisational and exective performance 11 delegate to management oversee the appointment and contractal arrangements for senior exectives, and make sre that effective management arrangements are in place nderstand and manage risk. Ways of achieving these primary fnctions inclde: constrctively challenging and scrtinising the exective ensring that the voice of the pblic is heard in decision making forging strategic partnerships with other organisations. 10 Governors of charities (trstees) have an overriding dty to act in the interests of their charity and its beneficiaries, who are defined as part of its registration as a charity. Indstrial and provident societies (mtals) may be either for the mtal benefit of their members or of the commnity, depending on their form of registration. 11 Throghot, the term exective is sed to refer to the senior members of the organisation s paid staff. 9

16 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services Some of these fnctions are the particlar responsibility of non-exective directors, where the governing body comprises both non-exective and exective members (see 2.2). Application The governing body shold set ot clearly, in a pblic docment, its approach to performing each of the fnctions of governance. This shold inclde a process, agreed with the exective, for holding the exective to accont for achieving agreed objectives and implementing strategy. The governors shold explain how and why their approach to each fnction is appropriate for the size and complexity of the organisation. 2.2 Being clear abot the responsibilities of non-exectives and the exective, and making sre that those responsibilities are carried ot Different pblic services have different types of governing body. In some cases, exective directors are members of the governing body; in other cases the governing body is made p entirely of non-exectives. For example, NHS trsts have nified boards that sally comprise five exective directors, five non-exective directors and the non-exective chair. In contrast, police athorities and some national pblic bodies have a spervisory body made p entirely of non-exectives. Government departments and non-departmental pblic bodies have acconting officers (sally the permanent secretary of a government department and the chief exective of an NDPB) who have personal responsibility to Parliament for the se of pblic fnds. In all cases, the governors take collective responsibility for the governing body s decisions. In both nified and spervisory arrangements, non-exectives have specific responsibilities in relation to the exective. Non-exective The non-exective role is to: contribte to strategy: non-exectives bring a range of perspectives to strategy development and decision making make sre that effective management arrangements and an effective team are in place at the top level of the organisation delegate: non-exectives help to clarify which decisions are reserved for the governing body, and then clearly delegate the rest hold the exective to accont: the governing body delegates responsibilities to the exective. Non-exectives have a vital role in holding the exective to accont for its performance in flfilling those responsibilities, inclding throgh prposefl challenge and scrtiny be extremely discriminating abot getting involved in matters of operational detail for which responsibility is delegated to the exective. Chair and chief exective (or lead exective) The chair and chief exective share in the leadership role. The chair s role is to lead the governing body, ensring it makes an effective contribtion to the governance of 10

17 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services the organisation; and the chief exective s is to lead the organisation in implementing strategy and managing the delivery of services. A good working relationship between the two can make a significant contribtion to effective governance. The depty chair s role incldes spporting the chair in his or her role, and, on occasion, informing the chair of any concerns that governors have abot the condct of the governing body. Application The governing body shold clarify that all its members have collective responsibility for its decisions and have eqal stats in discssions. The chair and other governors shold challenge individal governors if they do not respect constrctive challenge by others or if they do not spport this collective responsibility for flfilling the organisation s prpose and for working towards intended otcomes for citizens and sers of services. The governing body shold set ot a clear statement of the respective roles and responsibilities of the non-exectives and the exective and its approach to ptting this into practice. The roles of chair and chief exective shold be separate and provide a check and balance for each other s athority. The chair and the chief exective shold negotiate their respective roles early in the relationship (within a framework in which the chair leads the governing body and the chief exective leads and manages the organisation) and shold explain these clearly to the governing body and the organisation as a whole. 2.3 Being clear abot relationships between governors and the pblic Governors and governing bodies need to be clear abot the natre of their relationship with the pblic. The governing body s role is to direct and control the organisation in the pblic interest (see 2.1) and to ensre accontability to the pblic (see 6.2). Being clear abot this increases the chances that governors and others will nderstand governors responsibilities to the pblic and be aware of the limitations of what they can be expected to do. Pblic service governors are either elected directly by the pblic or appointed by governing bodies and/or government 12. All governors share collective responsibility and accontability for the governing body s decisions 13. This incldes the governing body of a partnership, whose members may come from a range of organisations. As governors of the partnership, they are responsible for taking decisions that spport the partnership s prpose, not simply the interests of their parent organisation. Their different rotes to becoming a governor mean that elected and appointed governors have different types of relationship with the pblic. However, both are 12 Some charity trstees or governors of other independent not-for-profit organisations, sch as hosing associations, are appointed by a wider voting membership or by other external bodies. 13 Organisations in which political parties are prominent, e.g. local athorities, may by convention operate a system of collective responsibility within the controlling party or alliance, rather than within the governing body as a whole. 11

18 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services accontable to the pblic and shold develop a dialoge that connects the organisation properly with the pblic they serve (see 6.2). The electoral process provides an additional accontability mechanism for elected governors and they can be said to represent the pblic, in the democratic sense of represent. Appointed governors backgronds and experience are often factors in their appointment. This means that they bring particlar perspectives or expertise, bt their views cannot be expected to be representative or typical of others with similar backgronds. It is very important that a wide range of experiences and perspectives inform governance decisions. This is enhanced by the participation of a cross-section of the pblic in governance decision making (see 5.1). Application Governors shold recognise their collective responsibility for the governing body s decisions and strive to make decisions that frther the organisation s prpose, rather than the interests of any specific grop or organisation with which they are associated. The governing body shold vale the perspectives which governors appointed from different backgronds bring, bt shold make clear that these appointed governors are not expected to provide the only sorce of information abot the specific grops whose backgrond or experiences they share. Where appointed governors are asked to provide athoritative information abot the views and experiences of sch grops, they shold have access to systems for collecting this information. The governing body, whether elected or appointed (or made p of both elected and appointed governors) shold ensre that the organisation engages effectively with the pblic and service sers to nderstand their views, and that the governing body has access to reliable information abot the range of pblic opinions and the satisfaction of all grops of sers of services. Good practice examples: performing effectively in clearly defined fnctions and roles The governing body can meet its responsibility for strategy by scrtinising and challenging proposals developed by the exective, or by involving itself actively in strategy formlation from the earliest stages. In developing and prsing the organisation s strategic direction, the governing body is advised to make jdgements abot, and help to reglate, the scale and pace of change that the organisation can handle sccessflly. In appointing and remnerating the top team, it is good practice to establish a remneration and appointments committee, made p of governors who are free of vested interests, to make recommendations to the governing body. Pblishing job descriptions for the chair, depty chair and chief exective can help others to know what to expect. Even for small organisations or partnerships with limited resorces, separation of the chair and the exective role is advisable, with the exective being responsible for ptting decisions into practice. 12

19 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services 3. Good governance means promoting vales for the whole organisation and demonstrating the vales of good governance throgh behavior Good governance flows from a shared ethos or cltre, as well as from systems and strctres. It cannot be redced to a set of rles, or achieved flly by compliance with a set of reqirements. This spirit or ethos of good governance can be expressed as vales and demonstrated in behavior. Good governance bilds on the seven principles for the condct of people in pblic life that were established by the Committee on Standards in Pblic Life. Known as the Nolan principles, these are: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accontability, openness, honesty and leadership. 3.1 Ptting organisational vales into practice A hallmark of good governance is the development of shared vales, which become part of the organisation s cltre, nderpinning policy and behavior throghot the organisation, from the governing body to all staff. These are in addition to compliance with legal reqirements on, for example, eqal opportnities and anti-discrimination. Application The governing body shold take the lead in establishing and promoting vales for the organisation and its staff. These vales shold be over and above legal reqirements (for example, anti-discrimination, eqal opportnities and freedom of information legislation) and shold bild on the Nolan principles. They shold reflect pblic expectations abot the condct and behavior of individals and grops who control pblic services 14. The governing body shold keep these vales at the forefront of its own thinking and se them to gide its decision making. 14 For example, National Centre for Social Research and Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends Giding Principles: Pblic Attitdes Towards Condct in Pblic Life, The Committee on Standards in Pblic Life, Janary

20 Good Governance Standard for Pblic Services 3.2 Individal governors behaving in ways that phold and exemplify effective governance Individal behavior is a major factor in the effectiveness of the governing body, and also has an inflence on the reptation of the organisation, the confidence and trst members of the pblic have in it and the working relationships and morale within it. Conflicts, real or perceived, can arise between the organisation s Application Governors shold live p to the Nolan principles and to any approved codes or gides to ethical condct for their organisation or sector. They shold also demonstrate throgh their behavior that they are focsing on their responsibilities to the organisation and its stakeholders. interests and those of individal governors (see 4.1). Pblic trst can then be damaged nless the organisation implements clear procedres to deal with these conflicts. Good practice examples: promoting vales for the whole organisation and demonstrating the vales of good governance throgh behavior The governing body promotes and pholds vales for the organisation. These may inclde: responding to a diverse pblic and striving to redce ineqality among service sers committing to openness and transparency in decisions and se of resorces striving for pblic good and ignoring personal interests promoting good relationships within the organisation, with the pblic and service sers and with other organisations. The governing body makes clear the standards of behavior that it expects from governors and staff. Good practice in the behavior of individal governors may inclde: attending reglarly and being actively involved in decision making informing oneself and preparing for decision making making contact with other organisations and forging and maintaining links with the world otside the organisation engaging willingly and actively with the pblic, service sers and staff, within an agreed commnication framework. 14