Recommendations & Conclusions
24 items
2
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
There is a lack of data analysis and sharing of insights regarding whistleblowing across of the civil service. The Cabinet Office does not utilise its central position to analyse the cross-government data it collects. This could help identify trends and valuable insights that could be shared across the civil service. …
Government response. The Cabinet Office has already robustly analysed submitted data, categorising themes, clarifying investigation times, and exploring whistleblower experience. It will work with PSFA to explore 2024-25 data themes, look at People Survey results, and continue benchmarking annual data for year-on-year …
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
A ‘speak up’ environment is not yet embedded throughout departments to encourage people to comfortably raise concerns. There are still negative perceptions 6 Investigation into whistleblowing in the civil service of whistleblowing which can create barriers to achieving the right environment for speaking up. The annual Civil Service People Survey …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will foster best practice sharing, continue stakeholder engagement and an annual conference, and publish a learning offer. It will commission a whistleblower survey, focus the upcoming 'Speak Up' campaign on culture, and is considering a civil service-wide …
HM Treasury
4
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office and other departments do not seek feedback from whistleblowers and so are missing vital insights into the effectiveness of the process. The ‘whistleblowing heath check’ guidance from the Cabinet Office suggests departments should gather feedback from individuals on whether their concerns have been handled responsibly, professionally and …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will work with departments to develop methods, including an anonymised voluntary survey, to capture whistleblower experiences, including those who report anonymously, by the end of 2024. It will also ensure senior leaders oversee victimisation claims and promote …
HM Treasury
5
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
There is a lack of joined up thinking when it comes to sharing good practice across the civil service. There are some examples of good practice across the civil service but the Cabinet Office needs to do more to promote and disseminate good practice to help drive improvement and learning. …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will build on existing work to share best practice, explore how mature models can be shared across government, and continue working with departmental leads to ensure organisational learning. It will also explore agencies' expectations, how larger organisations …
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Cabinet Office, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) on whistleblowing in the civil service.1
Government response. The government appears to be responding to an unstated recommendation regarding data collection and analysis for 2024-25, committing to specific actions such as widening data sets, clarifying categorisation, tracking victimisation claims, commissioning data returns, and supporting practitioners.
HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
In 2017, the Cabinet Office introduced data collection from departments following this Committee’s recommendations in 2016.7 The data collection process is known as the annual Raising a Concern (RAC) collection exercise, which includes a qualitative survey and a quantitative return. The information collected includes the number of whistleblowing cases and …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will review the annual data collection for 2024-25 and widen the data set to focus on clarity and consensus on the categorisation of cases and outcomes, clarifying the time taken to conclude an investigation, requesting additional information …
HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
Cabinet Office’s information on concerns and arrangements across the civil service has improved but it still has several quality limitations. For example, there is no method for capturing outcomes for concerns that are ‘ongoing’ at the point of an annual data collection and no structured data on what the process …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will review the annual data collection for 2024-25, widening the data set to focus on clarity of case categorisation, time to conclude investigations, whistleblower experience, nil responses, follow up on ongoing cases and assurance conversations, targeting implementation …
HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
HMRC told us it understands that it is important to whistleblowers that it investigates as quickly as possible, and both HMRC and DWP monitor the length of time cases take.13 But the Cabinet Office is not collating this metric from departments.14 HMRC told us that more complex cases can cause …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will review the annual data collection for 2024-25, widening the data set to focus on clarity of case categorisation, time to conclude investigations, whistleblower experience, nil responses, follow up on ongoing cases and assurance conversations, targeting implementation …
HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
There are actions taken on a local level that are also not currently captured in the central data collection. The National Audit Office found that under 5% of completed cases in the period 2019–20 to 2021–22 are recorded as having led to changes in policies and procedures.16 The Cabinet Office …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will review the annual data collection for 2024-25 and widen the data set to focus on clarity and consensus on the categorisation of cases and outcomes, clarifying the time taken to conclude an investigation, requesting additional information …
HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
The Government People Group (within the Cabinet Office) does not systematically assess the departments’ returns for completeness or quality or to assure the adequacy of 7 HC Committee of Public Accounts, Making a whistleblowing policy work: progress update, Twenty-ninth Report of Session 2015–16, HC 602, March 2016 8 Q 1 …
Government response. The Cabinet Office states that during the 2023-24 data collection exercise, it took robust action through regular engagement with practitioners to ensure data accuracy, further bolstered by clarifying departmental responses on behalf of agencies, and ran drop-in sessions and held …
HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
The National Audit Office reported that fraud accounts for around 40% of concerns raised but the central data does not indicate the seriousness of any of the types of concerns raised.22 HMRC and DWP told us that they both have a very small portion of fraud-related whistleblowing cases in proportion …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will analyse data to categorize key themes, clarify investigation times, explore whistleblower experience, ensure all responses are submitted, follow up on ongoing cases, hold assurance conversations, assess whistleblower experience, and scrutinize areas of concern, also working with …
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office informed us that the health check data, as opposed to its annual RAC data collection, is where there is inconsistency in the data collected from departments.25 The variable data on departments whistleblowing arrangements makes it hard to compare and evaluate if they are currently effective or not. …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will review the annual data collection for 2024-25 and widen the data set to focus on clarity and consensus on the categorisation of cases and outcomes, clarifying the time taken to conclude an investigation, requesting additional information …
HM Treasury
13
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
The National Audit Office found that just 52% of people ‘think it is safe to challenge the way things are done’, from their review of responses to the 2022 Civil Service People Survey. The equivalent figure for the NHS was 61.5%.29 The Cabinet Office told us it has improved over …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will foster the sharing of best practice through the online hub, continue to deliver events, develop a learning offer, promote the Speak Up campaign, commission a survey of whistleblowers, focus the Speak Up campaign on the cultural …
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office told us that just under half of whistleblowers come forward anonymously, acknowledging that this fact shows it has more work to do to convince people it is safe to speak up.31 We asked HMRC and DWP how they embed a culture that encourages people to raise concerns.32 …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will foster the sharing of best practice through the online hub, continue to deliver events, develop a learning offer, promote the Speak Up campaign, commission a survey of whistleblowers, focus the Speak Up campaign on the cultural …
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Acknowledged
The National Audit Office found a mixed picture when it reviewed the health check material against the ‘leaders role-model behaviour’ indicator which suggests senior leaders should role-model a supportive culture that gives people confidence to raise concerns.37 DWP noted that in large organisations such as itself and HMRC, the culture …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will continue to foster the sharing of whistleblowing best practice across the Civil Service, delivered a conference for policy leads, developed learning for departmental officers, and will work with departmental leads to commission a survey of whistleblowers.
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
The annual RAC data collection does not cover the treatment of whistleblowers; for example whether a whistleblower in a specific case has experienced any mistreatment, such as victimisation or bullying.39 The ‘whistleblowing heath check’ guidance issued by the Cabinet Office suggests departments should gather feedback from individuals on whether their …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will work with departmental leads to better capture whistleblowers' experiences, including victimisation or harassment, develop an anonymised feedback survey for whistleblowers, ensure senior leader oversight of victimisation cases, and share lessons learned across government.
HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
We asked both HMRC and DWP how they currently support whistleblowers. HMRC told us the majority of support comes from nominated officers within the department but it also points people to other sources of advice and support, such as the employee assistance programme, the trade unions or the Advisory, Conciliation …
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
We asked the Cabinet Office if any interviews are undertaken with whistleblowers to capture their perspective of the experience. It told us it is not aware of interviews taking place currently. There was a hesitancy from the Cabinet Office on the method of capturing feedback as it believed this could …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will work with departmental leads to better capture whistleblowers' experiences, including whether they have experienced victimisation or harassment, develop an anonymised feedback survey for whistleblowers, ensure senior leader oversight of victimisation cases, and share lessons learned across …
HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted
The Cabinet Office told us that it is considering ways of capturing feedback from people who have come forward anonymously. DWP acknowledged it finds it hard to collect information from whistleblowers who are anonymous and HMRC told us it has 39 Q 11 40 Q 11; C&AG Report, para 2.22 …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will develop ways on how it can better capture whistleblowers' experiences, including whether they have experienced victimisation or harassment, an anonymised feedback survey for whistleblowers to capture their experience, and will encourage the sharing of learning and …
HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted in Part
There are some examples of good practice across the civil service when it comes to whistleblowing processes, but they are not always shared between departments and agencies. For example, HMRC has ‘help cards’ to improve the quality of information on concerns raised anonymously and DWP has multiple routes for raising …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will build on existing work to share insight and best practice, work with organizations that have a mature model and explore how the experience to maturity can be shared across government and explore the development of a …
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Acknowledged
We asked the Cabinet Office how it currently shares good practice. The Cabinet Office told us it holds an annual conference where it brings together nominated officers (who support whistleblowers) and policy leads (who are responsible for the policy) and HR professionals.53 It also has an online hub community of …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will build on existing work to share insight and best practice, work with departmental leads to ensure senior leader oversight of cases, explore organisational learning, policies and procedures, continue with the annual whistleblowing event, consider the Department …
HM Treasury
22
Recommendation
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted in Part
The Cabinet Office said it could play a role in collating information across the civil service and share back what works well and what departments can do more of.56 For example, the NAO reported that some departments do not have a whistleblowing hotline,57 despite more than 80% of concerns raised …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will build on existing work to share insight and best practice, work with organizations that have a mature model and explore how the experience to maturity can be shared across government and explore the development of a …
HM Treasury
23
Conclusion
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Acknowledged
The Cabinet Office guidance specifies that departments should cover their agencies as well as themselves when responding to health checks, but this is not followed by all 48 Qq 80, 82 49 Q 2 50 NAO insight - good practice guide, Whistleblowing in the civil service, 21 February 2024 51 …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will build on existing work to share insight and best practice, work with departmental leads to ensure senior leader oversight of cases, explore organisational learning, policies and procedures, continue with the annual whistleblowing event, consider the Department …
HM Treasury
24
Recommendation
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation int…
Accepted in Part
We were interested to hear from departments on any improvements that they think can be made in terms of how they can help maintain a high standard of whistleblowing across the civil service. DWP suggested that large departments have a responsibility, as they are better resourced and have more expertise, …
Government response. The Cabinet Office will build on existing work to share insight and best practice, work with organizations that have a mature model and explore how the experience to maturity can be shared across government and explore the development of a …
HM Treasury