The Osmotherly Rules, named for their author, a
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
in the
Machinery of Government Division of the British
Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government object ...
named E. B. C. Osmotherly, are a set of internal guidelines specifying how government departments should provide evidence to
parliamentary select committees.
Covering procedures for both the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
and the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
, it has "no formal Parliamentary standing or approval, nor does it claim to have."
History
Although they were first formally issued in May 1980, a similar document had been circulating throughout the 1970s. They were "prepared entirely for use within Government" and had no official status in Parliament. An early edition of the rules was caught up in the
Westland affair, a
political scandal
In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, party officials and lobbyists can be accused of various illegal, corrupt, unet ...
in which the ministers were worried that officials being questioned by committees about individual conduct could be harmful; they were criticised as "unduly restrictive".
The current edition dates from October 2014, and was issued by Francis Maude as the Minister for the Cabinet Office under the name of ''Giving Evidence to Select Committees: guidance for civil servants''.
Content
As to an overarching principle the rules state that civil servants ("officials") are not directly
accountable
Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the ...
to
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
; rather,
Secretaries of State,
Ministers of State,
Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State and
Parliamentary Private Secretaries
A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...
(as the elected/appointed agents of
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...
) are so accountable to Parliament. Their civil servants, essentially carrying out actions under ministerial powers and authority, are merely responsible to them, and thus cannot be ''summoned'' by Select Committees, as they are protected by the same rule that prevents
Members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
being summoned.
In general, if there is a dispute about the attendance of an official, the relevant minister should attend instead as a matter of courtesy.
Other issues the rules provide guidance on include the:
*limitations of Select Committees' powers to "send for persons, papers and records",
*procedures on committees summoning
retired officials
*
parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties ...
*the point at which the cost of supplying information is considered excessive
*the rules of ''
sub judice
In law, ''sub judice'', Latin for "under a judge", means that a particular case or matter is under trial or being considered by a judge or court. The term may be used synonymously with "the present case" or "the case at bar" by some lawyers.
...
'' (current, likely and pending litigation privilege)
*withholding and redaction of evidence on the grounds of
national security
National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military att ...
and
public interest
The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society.
Overview
Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefor ...
.
The tests used in the most recent edition are based on those used by civil servants when considering the extent to which a
Freedom of Information request should be acceded to.
See also
*
British Civil Service
His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, which ...
*
Cabinet Secretary
*
Permanent Secretary
A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil ...
References
{{reflist
Parliament of the United Kingdom
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Government of the United Kingdom
Westminster system
House of Lords
*