The Civil Service Code, first published in 1996, sets out the core Civil Service values and the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants in upholding these values. A * Scottish Executive version of the Civil Service Code was first published in 2006.
Constitutionally, civil servants are servants of the Crown. The Crown's executive powers are exercised by the UK Government on reserved matters and by Scottish Ministers on devolved matters in Scotland.
On 11 November 2010, the Civil Service provisions of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaG) 2010 came into force that places the Civil Service values on a statutory footing. Under the terms of CRaG:
- a revised Civil Service Code was laid before the UK Parliament on 11 November 2010 and is available on the Cabinet Office website at http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/values/cscode/index.aspx; and
- a revised separate code of Conduct covering civil servants who serve the *Scottish Executive was laid before the UK Parliament and Scottish Parliament on 11 November 2010 and is available as a WORD doc and pdf.
*The term Scottish Executive, rather than Scottish Government, is in accordance with terms of the Scotland Act 1998.
Although, the standard of behaviour expected of civil servants is the same under both Codes, civil servants in:
- the Scottish Government core and its agencies and also the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) and Registers of Scotland (RoS) serve the Scottish Executive/ Government and are covered by the Scottish Executive version of the Code; and
- the Scottish Court Service (SCS) and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) do not serve the Scottish Executive/ Government and so are covered by the UK Code.