Guidance has today been issued to civil servants in UK Departments on the principles which they should observe in relation to the conduct of Government business in the run up to the forthcoming elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales, to local authorities in England and Northern Ireland, and the voting systems referendum.

The guidance sets out the principles on the need to maintain the political impartiality of the civil service, and the need to ensure that public resources are not used for party political purposes, and sets out the sensitive periods when the guidance comes into force.

Copies of the guidance have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and on the Cabinet Office website at

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/election-guidance.