Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Accepted
Ensure departments build a positive environment encouraging civil service whistleblowing concerns to be raised.
Recommendation
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 in 2022 had a median organisational score of only 52% of people agreeing they ‘think it is safe to challenge the way things are done in my organisation’. There is a need to signal the value of whistleblowers more strongly, by building a better and more supportive culture for raising concerns. This is demonstrated by the fact that nearly half of whistleblowers only come forward anonymously. A positive attitude towards whistleblowing needs to be more than something embedded in the HR function – it needs to be embedded throughout departments, with clear messages of support from senior staff in the organisation on a local level. Recommendation 3: In its Treasury Minute response to this report, the Cabinet Office should set out how it will ensure departments will build a positive environment that will encourage whistleblowing concerns to be raised.
Government Response Summary
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 whistleblowing champion.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented. The Cabinet Office recognises that changes in organisational culture can take time to evolve and become embedded and at a different pace across departments. The Cabinet Office will continue to foster the sharing of whistleblowing/raising a concern best practice across the Civil Service through the online practitioner's hub. The Cabinet Office has: • built a stakeholder community where practitioners can engage with each other in a safe space, raise concerns and share learning; • delivered a conference for policy leads in Autumn 2023, to support understanding of the current initiatives happening across the civil service and wider. This will become an annual event; • developed and published a learning offer for departmental nominated officers; • engaged with and promoted the annual Speak Up campaign. The Cabinet Office will work with departmental leads to commission a survey of whistleblowers to better understand their experience and the speak-up culture across government. Findings will be shared with HR Directors. The Cabinet Office will use this year’s annual ‘Speak Up’ campaign, planned for late autumn, to focus on the cultural side of raising a concern and ensuring that it is safe for concerns to be raised. The intention is that this can be tailored by departments to align with their existing culture and approach to raising a concern. Further, the Cabinet Office is considering the introduction of a civil service-wide whistleblowing champion at SCS level. The champion would be a senior figurehead to showcase the importance of speaking up across the civil service, to promote and encourage a culture where it is safe to challenge and to assure those raising concerns that they will be listened to and protected.