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The Prime Minister's Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests

The Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests is appointed by the Prime Minister of the day with two responsibilities:

• To provide an independent check and source of advice to Government Ministers on the handling of their private interests, in order to avoid conflict between those interests and their Ministerial responsibilities.
• To investigate – when the Prime Minister, advised by the Cabinet Secretary, so decides – allegations that individual Ministers may have breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct.

In carrying out his duties, the Independent Adviser is assisted by staff of the Propriety and Ethics Team in the Cabinet Office.

The Adviser is required to report annually to the Prime Minister on his work. His report is also presented to Parliament.

The present Adviser, Sir Philip Mawer, took up post on 14 January 2008. He appeared before the Public Administration Select Committee [External website] of the House of Commons to answer questions on his role on 28 February 2008. Following the evidence session, the Select Committee published a report "Investigating the conduct of ministers" [External PDF]. The Government response was received by the Select Committee on 21 August 2008 and published on 14 October 2008 "Government Response to the Committee's Seventh Report of Session 2007-08" [External website].

The Adviser can be contacted at:

Sir Philip Mawer,
Cabinet Office,
70 Whitehall,
London SW1A 2AS

(tel. 020 7276 2472)