Common use of General Guidance Clause in Contracts

General Guidance. The guidance in this Chapter goes wider than the law partly because of the need to maintain public confidence in the Treasury, and partly to protect Treasury officials against unfair and unfounded criticism. The Treasury is not concerned to pry into the private affairs of individuals but all members of staff have a responsibility to preserve the Treasury's excellent reputation for the strictest integrity. Staff should follow the guidance below in applying the basic principle set out in the Basic Principles paragraph above: • in all cases where an individual member of Treasury staff has a relevant private financial interest in something with which they might have to deal officially they should declare it in writing to their line manager; • where the information or the private interest is specific (for example, knowledge of a particular company's affairs, or owning shares in a particular company) the right course will be either to avoid any dealings in those investments for as long as the information continues to be confidential and price-sensitive, or to leave colleagues to deal with the specific decision to be taken, letting the line manager know, in writing, of the reason; • if Treasury staff have substantial investments or if they are an executor or trustee in circumstances where a conflict of interest could occur between their management of the investments and their official work, they should consider the use of a third party to manage their affairs on a day to day basis, subject to periodic discussions with the third party on the general policy he or she is to follow. Staff should copy to their HR manager all written notifications which they send to their line manager under the guidance given in this Chapter. The line manager should do the same with any guidance given to the individual concerned. This guidance applies to what individual members of staff do, whether it is for their own benefit or for anyone else's (including spouses, parents and children), or if they are acting as an executor or trustee. It does not directly apply to dealings in which spouses, parents or children take their own separate decisions. Those decisions will be insulated from any member of staff's official knowledge by the rule that staff must not in any case give official information to anyone else.

General Guidance. The guidance in this Chapter goes wider than the law partly because of the need to maintain public confidence in the Treasury, and partly to protect Treasury officials against unfair and unfounded criticism. The Treasury is not concerned to pry into the private affairs of individuals but all members of staff have a responsibility to preserve the Treasury's excellent reputation for the strictest integrity. Staff should follow the guidance below in applying the basic principle set out in the Basic Principles paragraph above: • in all cases where an individual member of Treasury staff has a relevant private financial interest in something with which they might have to deal officially they should declare it in writing to their line manager; • where the information or the private interest is specific (for example, knowledge of a particular company's affairs, or owning shares in a particular company) the right course will be either to avoid any dealings in those investments for as long as the information continues to be confidential and price-sensitive, or to leave colleagues to deal with the specific decision to be taken, letting the line manager know, in writing, of the reason; • if Treasury staff have substantial investments or if they are an executor or trustee in circumstances where a conflict of interest could occur between their management of the investments and their official work, they should consider the use of a third party to manage their affairs on a day to day basis, subject to periodic discussions with the third party on the general policy he or she is to follow. Staff should copy to their HR manager all written notifications which they send to their line manager under the guidance given in this Chapter. The line manager should do the same with any guidance given to the individual concerned. This guidance applies to what individual members of staff do, whether it is for their own benefit or for anyone else's (including spouses, parents and children), or if they are acting as an executor or trustee. It does not directly apply to dealings in which spouses, parents or children take their own separate decisions. Those decisions will be insulated from any member of staff's official knowledge by the rule that staff must not in any case give official information to anyone else.