Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Accepted
Collecting systematic feedback from anonymous whistleblowers presents significant challenges for departments.
Recommendation
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 41 Q 81 42 Q 8 43 Qq 17, 67 44 Qq 68, 69 45 Qq 78, 80, 84 46 Q 85 47 Q 4 Investigation into whistleblowing in the civil service 13 some dialogue with anonymous individuals, but it is quite limited.48 The Cabinet Office told us it is currently working with departments to implement an anonymous feedback survey, so that it has more experiential data to improve the whistleblower’s experience.49 Sharing good practice
Government Response Summary
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 good practice across departments.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
4.2 The Cabinet Office will work with departmental leads to develop ways on how it can better capture whistleblowers' experiences, including whether they have experienced victimisation or harassment. The Cabinet Office will encourage the sharing of learning and good practice across departments. 4.3. The Cabinet Office will develop an anonymised feedback survey for whistleblowers to capture their experience, sharing learning across government. Providing feedback will be a voluntary measure to ensure that whistleblowers do not feel deterred from raising a concern. Consideration will be given to ensure that those who raise concerns anonymously can also provide feedback. This will help departments and the Cabinet Office understand better why anonymous whistleblowers use this route and explore ways to ensure whistleblowers have a safe experience. 4.4 The Cabinet Office will continue to work with departmental leads to ensure that there is a senior leader in each organisation who oversees cases where whistleblowers raise subsequent concerns around victimisation or harassment to ensure follow-up actions are captured. The introduction of a civil service-wide whistleblowing champion (as per para 3.6) will help support a safe-to-challenge culture. 4.5 The Cabinet Office will look at how any lessons learned can be shared, effectively and respectfully across government.