Whether all of its special advisers have signed a code of conduct and declaration of interests and, if so, whether these are publicly avail…

The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers is currently under review as part of the new Model Contract for Special Advisers. The opportunity has been taken to incorporate amendments made necessary as a result of the Constitutional Renewal and Governance (CRAG) Act 2010. It is expected that the final version will be laid in both the UK and Scottish Parliaments in the next few months. In the meantime special advisers have been asked to work within the spirit of the new code.
As temporary civil servants, special advisers are required to abide by the conduct provisions of the Civil Service Code as they relate to the declaration of interests. All staff are expected to record interests on the electronic HR self declaration system. The information held is not publicly available as it is considered personal information, release of which would be a breach of the data protection principles.