HC Deb 19 July 1972 vol 841 cc614-5
37. Mr. William Hamilton

asked the Minister for the Civil Service what is the rule governing civil servants and their acceptance of gifts from persons engaged on Government financed contracts.

Mr. Kenneth Baker

A civil servant must not without permission accept any gift or reward from any member of the public or organisation with whom he is brought into contact by reason of his official duties.

Mr. Hamilton

Can the hon. Gentleman be quite certain that this rule is being obeyed? For instance, can he tell us how the Pottinger affair would have been disclosed unless there had been a bankruptcy case in Wakefield? Will he undertake to alert the Metropolitan Police and to enable it to cover the case of the building of the Ninewells Hospital in Dundee by Crudens and the association with that firm of two civil servants—one of whom is now dead and the other retired—who took high posts with Crudens?

Mr. Baker

The latter point is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland. I am aware that the hon. Member has received an anonymous letter on this matter. If he receives any further information, I am sure that my right hon. Friend would be pleased to see it. The police investigation is limited to the Poulson affair. If the other affair is involved, I am sure the police will extend inquiries to it. May I say one thing about gifts? When the Pottinger affair arose, I examined the precedents since the war. There have been virtually no precedents of senior civil servants accepting gifts. I hope that the disclosures of recent weeks will not create public disquiet about the Civil Service. The integrity and honesty of the British Civil Service, as the Daily Mirror leader said today, is the biggest asset of British public life.

Sir Harmar Nicholls

In view of the denigration that is implied against the Civil Service generally through the way in which the last question was put by the hon. Member for Fife, West (Mr. William Hamilton), can my hon. Friend tell me whether the hon. Member raised this specific point in private before he sought all the publicity for this denigration through a Question in the House?

Mr. Baker

I am not aware that the hon. Gentleman has raised the point in private. I have seen comments on it in the Press.

Mr. Hamilton

I will raise a point of order on this matter after Question Time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Sheldon

Since the British Civil Service enjoys the reputation of having a degree of integrity that is rightly admired throughout the world, and since there is a policy of increasing links between the Government and industry, may I ask the hon. Gentleman whether he is satisfied that the rules of conduct are completely covered in view of these increasing contacts between Government and industry? Will he look into this problem to be sure that he is completely satisfied?

Mr. Baker

I am satisfied that the rules of conduct affecting serving civil servants in their relationship with industry are quite clear in Estacode. I have asked the Head of the Civil Service to look into the question of the rules under which former civil servants may take up posts in companies or industries with which they may have been concerned and to report to me.