Source · Select Committees · Treasury Committee
Recommendation 33
33
Deferred
Launch an awareness campaign to publicise FCA whistleblowing line and clarify its use.
Recommendation
We recommend that the FCA launches an awareness campaign to publicise the availability of its whistleblowing line and clarify the circumstances in which it can be used, including that nothing in a non-disclosure agreement can prevent an individual from reporting harassment to the FCA. This could be part of a wider campaign to map out the different options available to women suffering abuse or harassment in financial services. (Paragraph 165) 44 Sexism in the City
Government Response Summary
The government states it is considering how to improve its whistleblowing approach and public communication, including whether a new publicity campaign would be helpful, while noting a similar campaign was launched in March 2021.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
We are currently considering how we can improve our approach to whistleblowing, and we will take the opportunity to consider how to communicate publicly any changes we make and whether a publicity campaign would be helpful as part of this. This is something we have done in recent years. We launched a publicity campaign in March 2021, entitled “In confidence, with confidence”, to encourage individuals to report wrongdoing. This involved sharing materials with firms to publicise FCA whistleblowing channels, as well as making these materials publicly available. We also engaged with the media to enhance awareness of the campaign. We have extensive information about whistleblowing on our website and certain firms are obliged to publicise our whistleblowing service with their staff under our rules. We receive around 1,100 disclosures a year. This number has been quite stable over recent years, although we have recently seen an increase in the number of disclosures relating to sexual misconduct. As well as awareness of the whistleblowing line, the other issue is confidence in the function. We noted in our recent consultation paper on transparency in enforcement the limitations in sharing feedback with whistleblowers and the impact this can have in their confidence in the whistleblowing function. That consultation has now closed and we are considering all responses very carefully and have corresponded with the Committee separately on that consultation.