§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance, other than the civil service pay and conditions of service code and the establishment officers' guide, his Department provides relating to civil servants' shareholdings; if he will list the number of occasions within the last five years on which civil servants have reported shareholdings to establishment officers in his Department; what regulations apply to the staff of the next steps agencies within his Department; what mechanisms are in place to prevent potential conflicts of interest; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FormanNo special guidance is provided. Civil servants in the Department and its agency are expected to870W report shareholdings where a conflict of interest might arise. There is no record of any having done so over the past five years: the nature of most of the Department's business makes conflicts of interest inherently unlikely.