The Scottish Government

UK General Election and by-election campaigns: Guidance on conduct for Scottish Government civil servants

Introduction

1. This note contains guidance to Scottish Government civil servants on their role and conduct during UK General Election and by-election campaigns.

2. These elections raise different issues to those which arise at Scottish Parliament elections. The Scottish Government will remain in office whatever the outcome and all the business of the Government and the Parliament should continue. There is no suggestion that SG business should be put on hold during the election period. It is important therefore that there should be as little disruption as possible to normal business during the election period.

3. The guidance for the conduct of Scottish Government civil servants during a UK election is consistent with the advice given to staff in UK Departments during the Scottish Parliament election period in 2007. The UK Government and Westminster Parliament continued to operate, and examples of UK Government business that was not put on hold during the 2003 Scottish election period included the publication of the UK Budget and a Home Office announcement of a UK wide firearms amnesty. These announcements were considered by the UK Government to be consistent with the guidance. It is clear therefore that the presumption should be that unless proposed business is considered likely to have a direct bearing on the UK election or by-election, business should continue as normal.

4. However, it is clear that during an election period, it is essential that all staff should take particular care to ensure that they conduct themselves in accordance with the Civil Service Code. The principles underlying the conduct of civil servants during the election campaign are simply an extension of those which apply all the time and are set out in the Civil Service Code and the Scottish Ministerial Code. The basic principle is that civil servants should not undertake any activity which could call into question their political impartiality or give rise to the criticism that public resources had been used for party political purposes.

5. The application of these principles needs to be particularly sensitive during an election period and in particular staff must:

• Not undertake any activity which could call into question their political impartiality
• Ensure that public resources are not used for party political purposes
• Exercise particular care in relation to the announcement of sensitive decisions and in relation to paid publicity campaigns

6. Since the normal business of both the Scottish Government and the Parliament will continue during an election campaign, subject to any parliamentary recess periods during the campaign, staff should continue to support Ministers except in those cases where to do so could call into question their political impartiality or lead to suggestions that public resources were being used for party political purposes.

General Principles

7. The following general principles should be observed by all staff:

7.1 There should be even-handedness in meeting requests for information about devolved matters from candidates from different political parties. Such requests and responses should be handled in accordance with the principles laid down in the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Where a request relates to a reserved matter the inquiry should be directed to the relevant UK Department (Scotland Office: Edinburgh 0131 244 9010 will provide advice where responsibility is not clear). In the election period Directorates should respond to such requests within 24 hours where possible;

7.2 Requests for information from individuals or organisations other than candidates from the political parties should continue to be handled in accordance with the guidance in place for responding to Freedom of Information requests, including the requirement to provide a response within 20 working days;

7.3 Particular care should be taken over official support, and the use of public resources, including publicity, for Ministerial announcements which might be seen to have a direct bearing on the UK election or by-election. In some cases it may be better to defer any such announcement until after the election but this would need to be balanced carefully against the presumption that business should continue as usual and against any implication that deferral could itself influence the political outcome. Each case should be considered on its merit. A useful test to bear in mind is whether the announcement would have happened in the same way and to the same timing if the UK election or by-election were not taking place. Similar care should be taken over announcements of decisions made at official level;

7.4 Special care should be taken in respect of paid publicity campaigns which should not be open to criticism that they are being undertaken for party political purposes; and

7.5 In the event where it is necessary for an announcement to be made jointly with a Whitehall department during the period of a UK general election, all efforts should be made to postpone the announcement until after the campaign, in view of the much tighter restrictions to which Whitehall departments will be subject for its duration. This proviso does not apply at the time of a by-election unless the content of any such announcement might be seen to have a direct bearing on the constituency in question (see 7.3 above).

Costing of policies

8. Paragraph 7.1 above makes clear that the Scottish Government would provide candidates of all parties with factual information during a campaign. Officials may be asked by Ministers to cost Scottish equivalents to the policies and pledges of any UK party. Since officials would provide factual answers to questions from MSPs about the costs of identifiable changes in activities or benefits, and the general principle is that the routine business of both the Scottish Government and the Parliament will continue during the period of the election campaign, there is no objection to officials providing such factual information at any time. Questions on devolved matters would be answered by Scottish Government officials. Requests for Scottish costings for reserved matters should be passed to the relevant UK Department. Where responsibility is unclear or where the request covers a number of UK Departments the request should be passed immediately to the Scotland Office: Edinburgh on 0131 244 9010 who will arrange for a response in collaboration with the relevant UK department.

9. Civil servants should provide factual material, drawing attention to any additional assumptions or qualifications which have been made, including possible overlaps with other, similar costings. It is for Ministers to determine the form of presentation of any costings, although it will be appropriate for civil servants to check the presentation for factual accuracy and consistency. Officials should not be asked to provide new arguments for use in election campaign debates;

10. In practice, this sort of exercise will often be co-ordinated by Finance Directorate for devolved matters, which will then be in a position to exercise their own scrutiny and check consistency with other costings. However, when the exercise is not being co-ordinated by Finance Directorate, individual costings should be cleared with the Deputy Director of Finance.

Ministerial Visits

11. Official support must not be given to visits and events with a party political or campaigning purpose.

Staff in Private Offices

12. Staff in Ministerial Private Offices should ensure they are clear whether an engagement undertaken by the Minister or Cabinet Secretary is an official or party-political or campaigning one. They should continue to support Ministers in their official duties at all times, ensuring that they, and not a member of the Minister's personal or constituency staff, attend each official engagement. They should not, however, attend events which are explicitly for party-political or campaigning purposes. All party-political and campaigning engagements should continue to be recorded in Ministers official diaries, but Private Office staff should not book official cars or rooms in Scottish Government premises or elsewhere, commission speeches or briefing, or arrange other support for these events.

Media

13. The work of Communications Directorate is also expected to continue as usual during an election campaign. In presenting Scottish Government policy and providing publicity and advertising material during the period of the election campaign - whether on paper, electronically or via other media - all staff should continue to take their customary care to conform to the publicity conventions set out in the Guidance on the Work of the Government Information Service which require that their activities should:

• Be relevant to Scottish Government responsibilities
• Be objective and explanatory
• Not be, and not be capable of being, misrepresented as party political
• Be conducted in an economic and appropriate way, having regard to the need to be able to justify the costs as expenditure of public funds

14. The Scottish Government website and other official websites will be scrutinised closely by the news media and the political parties during an election period and care should be given to the appropriateness of posting material at that time.

15. Where there is doubt, further guidance should be sought from Communications Directorate.

Consultation / Publications

16. Public consultations should generally not be launched in general election periods (or in by-election periods if the emphasis of the consultation is on an issue sufficiently local to the constituency). If there are exceptional circumstances where launching a consultation is considered essential (for example, safeguarding public health), advice should be sought from Cabinet Secretariat on 0131 244 7926 / 6933.

17. If a consultation is ongoing at the time an election is called, it should continue as normal. However policy teams should avoid taking action during election periods which would, or might be perceived to, compete with the candidates for the attention of the public. Policy teams may continue to receive and analyse responses.

Statistical Activities

18. During an election period, statistical activities should continue to be conducted in accordance with the National Statistics Code of Practice and the accompanying protocols on news releases. Additional guidance on release of statistics and of other analytical services outputs is available on the Statistician Group intranet site. Requests for information should continue to be handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. For further guidance on analytical services activities please consult the relevant Chief Professional Officer or the Cabinet Secretariat.

Political Activities

19. Political activity connected with UK elections, including by-elections, fall within the definition of National Political Activity. General rules on the restrictions on civil servants involvement in national and local political activities are set out in the Scottish Government Staff Handbook and Section 4.4 of the Civil Service Management Code. Staff intending to participate in a UK election or by-election campaign in a private capacity should make sure that they are familiar with the guidance. Further guidance and advice is available from the Human Resources policy team.

Special Advisers

20. The restrictions on special advisers' involvement in national political activities are set out in the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers. For UK elections and by-elections, special advisers who wish to take part in the election campaign, or to help with these elections in a party headquarters or research unit, must first resign their appointment. Special advisers who resign in these circumstances are not entitled automatically to severance pay where their resignation is voluntary. Special advisers who remain in post must be careful not to take any public part in the campaign. They should not, for example, take part in public meetings, accompany their Ministers on campaign visits or brief the press on election related party political issues either in the working week or on leave, evenings or weekends, nor can this activity be done on unpaid leave. However in an individual's own time, backroom support and liaison with the party are permitted.

Use of Government property

21. Government property should not be used by Ministers or candidates for electioneering purposes, including the display of election posters.

22. In the case of NHS property, decisions are for the relevant Health Board but, should visits be permitted, it should be on the basis that there is no disruption to services and that the same facilities are available to all candidates. The decision on the use of schools and other local authority properties should be for those legally responsible for the premises and the same guidelines should apply.

23. Official resources such as telephones, computers, fax machines, official stationary and administrative support must not be used in support of these elections.

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

24. NDPBs and other public sector bodies spend public money and make public announcements and can use government property or employ civil servants. Again the work of NDPBs should continue throughout a UK election period. Where, however, there is doubt over whether some proposed action is appropriate during the election period, NDPBs should consult their sponsor department if in doubt about the application of this guidance.

Further information

25. In cases of doubt, further advice should be sought from the Cabinet Secretariat of the Scottish Government on 0131 244 7926 or 0131 244 6933.

Cabinet Secretariat
2 July 2008