Acceptance of gifts and hospitality from outside organisations by HID staff

SPC/ADMIN/75

OG status:

Fully open

Author unit / section:

HID HQ Finance and Planning Team

Target audience:

All HID Staff (Bands 0-6)

Version:

4

Purpose

1. This HID Circular outlines the procedures and considerations that need to be taken into account before accepting gifts and hospitality from outside organisations, and the action that needs to be taken.

Policy

2. HSE policy on the acceptance of gifts and hospitality is available on the intranet [http://intranet/humanresource/conduct/accepting.htm].

3. In summary, the Civil Service Code states that a civil servant must not accept gifts or hospitality or receive other benefits from anyone which might reasonably be seen to compromise their personal judgment or integrity. Members of the public with whom the member of staff deals may not realise how strict the civil service – and HSE – rules are on the acceptance of gifts. A member of staff may consider accepting if refusal could cause offence but they must follow this policy and declare the gift

HID records

4.  All offers of gifts and hospitality, whether accepted or not, must be recorded as soon as possible after the offer has been made, using HID's Hospitality Register form which is located in the general folder on the Forms Desktop [http://locluster.hse.int/lfserver/hosp1].

5. The member of staff offered the gift or hospitality should complete the Hospitality Register form on line and submit it electronically to their line manager for review. Once actioned on line by the line manager the system will automatically forward the form to HID HQ Finance and Planning Team for entry onto HID's register.

6. HID's register is reviewed and signed off periodically by the Director and is available for inspection by Internal Audit at any time.

Further information

7. For further advice please contact HID HQ Finance and Planning Team, Building 5N.2, Redgrave Court, Bootle L20 7HS.