Bills · Government Bill · 2024-26, 2026-27

Public Office (Accountability) Bill: stages, votes and documents

The Public Office (Accountability) Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 16 September 2025. Its latest stage in the Bills API is Report stage in the House of Lords. MPs divided on it 3 times between 14 July 2026 and 14 July 2026; the narrowest margin was 230 (Amendment 3).

What the bill is for

The long title reads:

A Bill to Impose a duty on public authorities and public officials to act with candour, transparency and frankness; to make provision for the enforcement of that duty in their dealings with inquiries and investigations; to require public authorities to promote and take steps to maintain ethical conduct within all parts of the authority; to create an offence in relation to public authorities and public officials who mislead the public; to create further offences in relation to the misconduct of persons who hold public office and to abolish the common law offence of misconduct in public office; to make provision enabling persons to participate at inquiries and investigations where the conduct of public authorities may be in issue; and for connected purposes.

Sponsors

• Mr David Lammy (Labour, Commons), Ministry of Justice
• Baroness Levitt (Labour, Lords), Ministry of Justice

Stages

Commons divisions on this bill

Documents

Bill

• Bill 306 2024-26 (as introduced) 16 September 2025
• Bill 341 2024-26 (as amended in Public Bill Committee 4 December 2025
• Bill 007 2026-27 (reintroduced at Report Stage) - pdf 14 May 2026
• Bill 007 2026-27 (reintroduced at Report Stage) - html 14 May 2026
• 5902042.pdf · 5902042.html · 5902042.xml 16 July 2026

Explanatory Notes

• Bill 306 EN 2024-26 16 September 2025
• Bill 007 EN 2026-27 - pdf 14 May 2026
• HL Bill 42 Explanatory Notes · 5902042en.pdf 16 July 2026

Impact Assessments

• Equalities Impact Assessment for the Misconduct in Public Office measures 16 September 2025
• Equalities Impact Assessment for the Parity measures 16 September 2025
• Impact Assessment - “Duty of Candour” provisions 16 September 2025
• Impact Assessment for the Misconduct in Public Office measures 16 September 2025
• Impact Assessment for the Parity of Arms measures 16 September 2025
• Equalities Impact Assessment for the Duty of Candour Measures 16 September 2025

Delegated Powers Memorandum

• Memorandum from the Ministry of Justice and the Cabinet Office 16 September 2025
• PublicOfficeAccountabilityBillDPM.pdf 21 July 2026

Briefing papers

• Public Office (Accountability) Bill 2024-26 23 October 2025
• Public Office (Accountability) Bill 2024-26: Progress of the bill 14 January 2026
• Public Office (Accountability) Bill: HL Bill 42 of 2026–27 26 August 2026

Official record

• UK Parliament Bills: Public Office (Accountability) Bill

Sources

Open Parliament Licence v3.0

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