Osmotherly Rules
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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 service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
in the Machinery of Government Division of the British
Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...
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 is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
and the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...
, 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 The Westland affair in 1985–86 was an episode in which Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and her Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Heseltine, went public over a cabinet dispute with questions raised about whether ...
, 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, Political party, party officials and Lobbying, lobbyists can be accused of various ...
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 to
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
; rather, Secretaries of State,
Ministers of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior ministers ...
, Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State and Parliamentary Private Secretaries (as the elected/appointed agents of
the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
) 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 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" *the procedures on committees summoning
retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...
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. I ...
'' (current, likely and pending litigation privilege) *withholding and redacting evidence on the grounds of
national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...
and
public interest In social science and economics, public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. While it has earlier philosophical roots and is considered to be at the core of democratic theories of government, often paired ...
. 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 In the United Kingdom, the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, which is led by a cabinet of ministers chosen ...
*
Cabinet Secretary A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official (typically a civil servant) who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powe ...
*
Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...


References

{{reflist Parliament of the United Kingdom House of Commons of the United Kingdom Government of the United Kingdom Westminster system House of Lords *