Public employees should have clearer guidelines about accepting gifts and there must be better parameters on what constitutes a conflict of interest, the National Audit Office has said.

The recommendation was made in a report focusing on the ethical framework in place for employees on the State payroll. 

This review was based on the provisions of the Public Administration Act, the Code of Ethics and the Public Service Management Code, which were compared against international benchmarks to identify any gaps.

All three of those documents include guidelines about how public sector employees should conduct themselves. The NAO suggested introducing a single framework encompassing all provisions, to make it simpler for public employees to follow.

The NAO found that there were instances in which the Public Administration Act and Code of Ethics were "incongruent" with the Public Service Management Code, fuelling ambiguity. In other areas, guidance was vague and unclear.   

Differences in the definition of what constituted a conflict of interest could create anomalies for public employees to decide whether to flag an issue or not- NAO

Conflicts of interest

The NAO found differences in the definition of what constituted a conflict of interest, which could cause confusion when deciding whether or not to flag a potential conflict.

The code of ethics refers to other occupations, activities or interests, financial or otherwise that public employees, board members or their close relations may have, which could conflict with the duties of the public employee or board member.

A significant difference under this code is that the employee’s close relations are also considered in case of a possible conflict of interest. Under the PSMC this is not the case.

Another issue raised was that according to the code of ethics, conflicts of interest are to be reported to the respective superior while the PSMC says the matter must be referred to the permanent secretary. The NAO also noted that the existing framework was reliant on individual integrity and self-declarations.

Accepting gifts

Concerns were also raised about provisions regarding the acceptance of gifts. While the code of ethics only refers to employees, the PSMC goes a step further and applies the provision to any member of the employee's household.

“This, together with the lack of a clear definition of what is meant by gifts and gratuities, and what is deemed as acceptable and what is not, creates further uncertainty,” the NAO said.  Consequently, it called for the establishment of a common understanding of what a gift entails and the setting of a threshold.

The NAO cited the example of the European Commission, whereby employees may accept gifts worth less than a specified value without requiring permission. 

Gifts that marginally exceed this limit may be accepted provided permission would be granted, while those with a value which substantially exceed the threshold shall not.