What do the Nolan Principles mean today?

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To conclude the IfG’s conference on the Nolan Principles, our panel will discuss the impact of the Nolan Principles in public life today. How have they changed the standards landscape in the UK? What do the public think about standards in public life? How useful are standards and principles to leaders in government? And how can a strong standards system support a government’s wider objectives? Speakers: Doug Chalmers, chair, Committee on Standards in Public Life Chris Morris, CEO, Full Fact Sachin Savur, researcher, Institute for Government Rowena Mason, Whitehall Editor at the Guardian This session was chaired by Tim Durrant, Programme Director at the Institute for Government Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back everyone to the final session of our conference today and this special extra episode of Inside Briefing, the podcast from the IFG.
0:09.3	We are here at the final panel of our conference on the Nolan Principles at 30.
0:14.3	To conclude the conference, we're going to discuss the impact of the Nolan Principles in Public Life today.
0:19.5	How have they changed the standards landscape in the UK? What do the public think about principles in public life today. How have they changed the standards
0:21.0	landscape in the UK? What do the public think about standards in public life? How useful are
0:25.5	these standards and principles to leaders in government? And how can a strong standard system
0:32.0	support the government's wider objectives? My name is Tim Durran. I'm a program director here
0:36.1	at the IFG and I am joined by a fantastic set of speakers to wrap things off.
0:40.3	So we have Rowena Mason, Whitehall Editor at The Guardian. We have Doug Chalmers, chair of the Committee on Sanders in Public Life. We have Chris Morris, who is the CEO at Full Fact, and we have my colleague Sachin Sava, who is a researcher here at the Institute for Government. Thank you everyone for joining me.
0:55.0	I'm going to kick off with some questions, but please do jump in and share your thoughts as we go.
1:00.0	And we will have a chance for audience questions along the way, of course.
1:03.0	Doug, you chair the Committee on Sanders in Public Life.
1:06.0	That was the committee that established the Nolan Principles back in 1995.
1:10.0	How do you think the principles have changed the standards landscape in the UK since 1995?
1:16.6	Well, I think, I mean, firstly, I think thank you for IFG for setting on today.
1:20.6	It's been a full day. I think those of us have been through it all.
1:23.6	I think it's been really, it's been, also I leave it actually slightly more positive than I probably expected.
1:31.3	Actually, I suppose that's my macro view.
1:33.3	And the reason I say that in it comes to principles is what has been a recurring theme over the day actually is the principles are seem to be valued.
1:40.3	Whether that be on your online poll or pretty much every speaker that's come up, they are valued. And I think, you know, think 30 years ago there were no such principles.
1:49.0	And if you look at many other countries around the world, they do not have a set of principles.
1:54.0	And what we have got is in these seven principles is something that is agreed across all of our
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