Ministers shun limit on advisers

Jo Moore's infamous email put the spotlight on special advisers again

Calls for limits on the overall number of special advisers have been rejected by ministers in the long-awaited plans to protect the civil service in law.

The draft Civil Service Bill, published on Monday, is aimed at setting out what politically appointed aides can do.

The issue attracted controversy when adviser Jo Moore suggested 11 September was a "good day to bury bad news".

The draft Bill would establish a commission to ensure civil servants are chosen on merit by fair competition.

But the government has rejected MPs' calls for the new Civil Service Commission to have powers to hold inquiries into whether codes on the behaviour of civil servants and special advisers are working.

Such a move would risk drawing the commission into political controversy, it warns.

Powers

Ministers have also decided that two special advisers should still be able to have special powers to direct civil servants.

After the departure of Downing Street media chief Alastair Campbell, these powers are currently only used by No 10 chief of staff Jonathan Powell.

The Bill has been published in response to recommendations from the Committee for Standards in Public Life and the Commons public administration committee.

When he retired as chairman of the standards committee, Sir Nigel Wicks warned public trust could be lost if ministers failed clearly to separate the civil service and special advisers.

And the MPs said Parliament should have a say in approving the number of special advisers.

In its response, the government says it does not think the occasional "breakdown" in the arrangements for special advisers did not mean there was a systemic problem.

And it says setting a limit for advisers might bring pressure to fill up that number of posts. It also stresses that civil servants massively outnumber special advisers.

The draft bill now goes out to consultation until the end of February.