Dutch Minister of Interior and Kingdom Relations Hanke Bruins Slot shared her plans for tightening up the current integrity policies for public administration. The plans concern both civil servants and political administrators, and aim to make the integrity policies more effective and coherent.

A code of conduct was already established for the Ministers in December 2022. Now, rules will be added on the continuation of the careers of former ministers. The bill contains a two-year lobbying ban (among other things) that will take effect after the resignation of a member of government.

Members of Parliament are independent due to their elected position, and are responsible for their own integrity. Political parties are supported with guidelines, examples, and instruments to promote integrity among political office holders. In addition, work is currently underway on the Political Parties Act (Wpp), in which existing and new rules on political parties are bundled.

In the modified integrity policies, there is more cohesion between the various levels of government, and the civil servants. For example, there will be mandatory quality requirements for integrity screening, and the differences in screening for ministers, decentralized office holders, and civil servants will be more evenly matched.

Source: Rijksoverheid.