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Select committee inquiry

Making a whistleblowing policy work: progress update inquiry

Closed

Public Accounts Committee · Opened 11 November 2015 · Closed 12 May 2016

Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

What the inquiry looked at

“Whistleblowing is an important source of intelligence to help government identify wrongdoing and risks to public service delivery. The Committee looked at whistleblowing in March and May 2014, in response to high-profile cases including out of hours GP services and tax avoidance, and concluded that a lack of cross-government leadership on whistleblowing had resulted in an inconsistent approach across departments. The Committee considered it essential that employees have trust in the system for handling whistleblowers; confidence that they will be taken seriously; and protected and supported by their organisations if they blow the whistle. This inquiry examines progress in how government deals with whistleblowers to give better protection to them and to ensure the information they highlight is used properly.”

The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.

What it found

In the committee's words, from the summary of 29th Report - Making a whistleblowing policy work: progress update ↗

We are concerned that the Government’s response to the previous committee’s report on whistleblowing has been too focused on policy and process, rather than on taking the lead to drive the much needed cultural change required to encourage and support whistleblowers to come forward. We are disappointed by the lack of urgency shown in dealing with this important topic, which is illustrated by the fact that the ‘Task and Finish’ group, set up to look at whistleblowing across Whitehall, which was a key component of the Government’s response, has only met once. We are also concerned that government’s focus is limited to departments rather than ensuring whistleblowing is also dealt with effectively in the wider public sector and in private and third sector providers delivering public services.

What the government said

No government response is linked to this report.

Read the report ↗ Report an error

How the inquiry ran

Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 11 November 2015 to its close on 12 May 2016.

  1. Oral evidence 7 Dec 2015
  2. Report 11 Mar 2016

What it recommended

The committee's recommendations are not listed here yet. Read them in 29th Report - Making a whistleblowing policy work: progress update ↗ on parliament.uk.

Evidence

Oral evidence sessions 1