Code of ethical conduct
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Director General's foreword
The integrity of the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) is crucial to our effective performance and this helps us to achieve our broader environment protection, climate change, conservation, sustainability and cultural heritage objectives. To retain community, stakeholder and Government confidence, we must maintain the commitment of the whole organisation to the highest standards of probity in our programs and operations. I am committed to having a good ethical framework and culture that staff understand and support to foster and sustain our good public standing now and into the future.
The Executive is conscious of its responsibility to ensure that fair and ethical policies, systems and procedures are in place for all aspects of DECC's work. Equally important is the need to have effective and accessible mechanisms for identifying and responding to potentially unethical or corrupt conduct or practices as they arise.
All of DECC's staff and, in particular, managers are responsible for ensuring an ethical workplace is maintained. I encourage all managers to monitor their areas to identify and address situations which may lead to ethical dilemmas. Managers need to be open and accessible to staff and encourage them to discuss ethical issues and questions they face. They need to support and, where appropriate, protect staff who report, in good faith, instances of potentially unethical or corrupt practices.
Every one of us in DECC has an individual responsibility to uphold the agency's ethical values and reputation. We also have a corporate responsibility, that we take seriously, to discuss ethical behaviour, to provide avenues for staff to build their understanding and skills in ethics and to encourage good systems so staff can practise ethical behaviour. We each need to be aware of and carry out the principles contained in this Code of Ethical Conduct and work ethically and lawfully. Equally, we each have a duty to report potentially unethical or corrupt practices using the established mechanisms.
This Code of Ethical Conduct has been prepared to help us understand and carry out our ethical responsibilities.
LISA CORBYN
Director General