UK

Located within one of the UK’s leading universities, the CSC has a particularly strong connection to the UK government coupled with an intimate knowledge of national issues of corruption. Many members of our team are regularly assisting the government with consultations on a variety of issues related to corruption.

Advising the UK government

Liz David-Barrett is currently advising the UK Department for International Development on its International Anti-Corruption programme, and has previously provided input for the UK National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2017-22. She is working with regulators in Jamaica and Uganda to build new tools and capacity for analysing corruption risks in public procurement.

Robert Barrington sits on the UK's post-Brexit procurement reform taskforce, advising the UK government's Cabinet Office on how to update the country's procurement regime and incorporate transparency, anti-corruption and open contracting provisions.

Robert Barrington is leading a team working on a project commissioned by the UK's Home Office Analysis & Insight Team to help build a more substantial picture of corruption within the UK.  The project consists of creating a conceptual framework for interpreting UK corruption drawing on academic theory and practical experience, a deep-dive review of priority areas including local government, prisons, and real estate, as well as producing a bibliography and gap analysis to assist future research.

Standards in Public Life

Corruption is often described as the abuse of entrusted power or public office for private gain.  Public standards are an important check on corruption and the UK's Nolan Principles embody the standards expected of public officials and politicians. The Principles are overseen by the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL), whose evidence-based recommendations and reports have led to the establishment of many of the standards bodies that exist today. The Committee recently commissioned a report by Rebecca Dobson Phillips, A Standards Landscape: A 2020 Vision. This provides an overview of the standards landscape and highlights some of the new and emerging challenges facing those in charge of upholding public standards.

The CSC has also made a submission to the Committee’s ‘Standards Matter 2’ consultation, a landscape review of the institutions, processes and structures in place to support high standards of conduct.
Standards Matter 2: Public Consultation [PDF415.20KB]

Government consultations

CSC researchers regularly feed into government consultations, including recently the UK consultations on Freeports and the Integrated Review.