Integrity checks

Public servants are entrusted by the Government and the Australian public to undertake important work, often with access to sensitive, confidential and private information that assists in the development of public policy, undertaking regulatory functions and providing support and services. The following questions are designed to support agencies to undertake pre-employment checks as a part of recruitment processes. Agencies should consider whether additional questions might be asked of candidates, which are specific to employment in the agency or relevant role.

A candidate’s answers to these questions should not automatically exclude them from further consideration in the recruitment process and further information on the circumstances should be sought from the candidate. Candidate responses should be used to understand whether further information is required from the candidate to inform the assessment of the candidate’s suitability and the need for any further checks. This must include consideration of the relevance of the information in relation to the candidates’ suitability to be a public servant, to hold employment in their agency or to perform in the role they are being recruited for.

It is recommended that the answers to these questions are not provided to the selection panel but are considered by the delegate with the support of the agency’s HR team and/or other relevant areas (e.g. Integrity and Fraud / Professional Standards teams). This will minimise the risk of unconscious bias in the assessment of the candidate and maintain privacy of the candidate’s information.

It is also recommended that agencies consider their privacy policies and related documentation to facilitate the disclosure of the answers to these questions to other agencies in the event that the merit list is shared and/or the candidate becomes an APS employee in an Agency that is different from the one in which they applied for the role.