Scottish Government

UK General Election 2010

Guidance for Scottish Government Civil Servants

Introduction

1. A UK General Election has been called for 6 May 2010. This will be preceded by a formal campaigning period, commencing on 6 April 2010. This note contains guidance for Scottish Government civil servants, including those in Scottish Government agencies, on their role and conduct during the election period (the date between the commencement of the campaign period and the election).

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 most of the business of the Scottish Government and the Parliament can continue as normal.

Detailed Guidance

3. The guidance provided in this note is consistent with guidance given to staff in UK Departments during Scottish Parliamentary election periods. The UK Government and Westminster Parliament continued to operate, and examples of UK Government business that was not put on hold during previous Scottish election periods include 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. The threshold for delaying business is therefore high. The presumption should be that, unless proposed business is considered likely to have a direct bearing on the UK election, it should continue as usual.

4. The Civil Service Code and the Scottish Ministerial Code continue to apply during the election period. The application of these Codes is likely to be subject to increased scrutiny during an election period. In particular staff must:

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

5. Since the normal business of both the Scottish Government and the Parliament will continue during an election 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

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

First Principle

There should be even-handedness in dealing with requests for information from candidates from different political parties, or those acting on their behalf. Such requests and responses should be handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. In the election period, Directorates should aim to respond to requests for factual information within 24 hours if the information is readily to hand. Where a request will take longer to deal with, the requester should be advised of this as he / she may wish to submit a refined request.

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

Special arrangements apply during the election period when a request for information relates to reserved matters. This is considered further below.

Second Principle

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. In some cases it may be better to defer any such announcement until after the election but this needs to be balanced carefully against the presumption that business should continue as normal 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 were not taking place. Similar care should be taken over announcements of decisions made at official level.

Third Principle

Care should be taken in respect of publicity campaigns which should not be open to criticism that they are being undertaken for party political purposes.

Fourth Principle

Where it is necessary for an announcement to be made jointly with a UK Government department, efforts should be made to postpone the announcement until after the election period, in view of the much tighter restrictions to which UK Government departments will be subject for its duration.

Requests for Information about Reserved Matters

7. During the election period, particular care should be exercised in relation to any requests for information or comment on reserved matters.

8. During the election period, the existing policy is modified as follows:

• A distinction should be made between things that the UK Government has done and proposals that they or any other party has to do things in the future. Any comment on the part of the Scottish Government on proposals of the UK Government or another party to do things in the future is likely to be seen, during the election period, as political rather than inter-governmental territory and should therefore be avoided.
• Any new comment by the Scottish Government on reserved matters is likely to be seen as political and should be avoided. However, the preparation of correspondence that repeats views that the Scottish Ministers have already expressed on reserved matters is acceptable.

9. These considerations should be applied to both Ministerial and official correspondence that is issued during the election period. If you are unclear as to whether a request relates to a devolved or a reserved matter then advice should be sought from Constitutional and Parliamentary Secretariat or your usual contact in the Legal Directorate. For any other questions about the application of the guidance, contact Cabinet Secretariat.

Costing of Policies

10. The Scottish Government will provide candidates of all parties with factual information during a campaign, consistent with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

11. 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, there is no objection to officials providing such factual information at any time.

12. Questions on devolved matters should be answered by Scottish Government officials. Requests for Scottish costings for reserved matters should be passed to the relevant UK Department. Where departmental responsibility at UK level is unclear or where the request covers a number of UK Departments the request should be passed immediately to the Scotland Office (0131 244 9010) who will arrange for a response in collaboration with the relevant UK department. If you are unclear as to whether a request relates to a devolved or a reserved matter then advice should be sought from Constitutional and Parliamentary Secretariat or your usual contact in the Legal Directorate.

13. 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.

14. The provision of costings will normally be the responsibility of the lead policy directorate. However, all costings should be cleared with Finance Directorate before a response is given.

Ministerial Visits

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

Staff in Private Offices

16. Staff in Ministerial Private Offices should ensure they are clear whether an engagement undertaken by a Cabinet Secretary or Minister 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 or provide support for events which are explicitly for party-political or campaigning purposes.

Media

17. The work of Communications Directorate will 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 activities should:

• Be relevant to Scottish Government responsibilities
• Be objective and explanatory
• Not be open to 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

18. 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.

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

Consultation / Publications

20. Public consultations on significant policy proposals should generally not be launched in general election periods. However, consultations on less sensitive matters (such as specialist or technical proposals) should be able to proceed as normal. If there are circumstances where launching a consultation on a high profile or potentially controversial issue is considered necessary, advice should be sought from Cabinet Secretariat.

21. 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.

Analytical Activities

22. During an election period, statistical activities should continue to be conducted in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and the National Statistician's guidance on Presentation and Publication of Official Statistics. There is a presumption that other Scottish research and analysis will be published as usual. However, there may be exceptions where the publication comments specifically on matters which might have a bearing on the UK election. For further guidance on analytical services activities please consult the relevant Chief Professional Officer or Cabinet Secretariat. Requests for information should continue to be handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Political Activities

23. Political activity connected with the UK election falls 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 Employee Relations, Diversity & Policy Team.

Special Advisers

24. 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 during the working week or at evenings or weekends or when on leave (paid or unpaid). However, in the individual's own time, backroom support activities, such as stuffing envelopes, are permitted. Any such support provided to the Party must however be done outside office hours and in the individual's own time and official resources (e.g. government buildings, e-mail etc) must not be used in support of these activities. Liaison with the Party will continue as part of business as usual but it must be handled in a way that does not leave it open to interpretation as liaison for UK election related purposes.

Use of Government Property

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

26. 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.

27. Official resources such as telephones, computers, fax machines, official stationery and administrative support must not be used in support of the election.

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

28. The work of NDPBs and other public bodies should continue throughout a UK election period, in accordance with the principles set out in this guidance. Where, however, there is doubt over whether some proposed action is appropriate during the election period, NDPBs and other public bodies should consult their Scottish Government sponsors for further guidance.

Cabinet Secretariat

6 April 2010