Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Accepted in Part
Good whistleblowing practices exist but are not consistently shared across civil service departments.
Recommendation
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 concerns so people have different options.50 Also, the National Audit Office found that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has the most whistleblowing concerns raised on average per staff member.51 The Cabinet Office commented on how the Agency had done a lot of training on how to raise issues and had a strong health and safety culture. The Cabinet Office acknowledged that there are lessons to be learned around good health and safety that often involve reporting near misses and also raising concerns when things are early or small.52
Government Response Summary
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 mentoring system for Nominated Officers with the community of practitioners so they can support and learn from each other.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
5.2. The Cabinet Office will build on the existing work to share insight and best practice. The Raising a Concern self-assessment tool (formerly the health check) provides a solid framework for departments to embed a culture of speaking up. The Cabinet Office will work with those organisations that have a mature model and explore how the experience to maturity can be shared across government. 5.3 The department will continue to work with and share the Raising a Concern work with departmental leads to ensure that a senior leader in each organisation has oversight of cases and can provide assurance on the Raising a Concern process. 5.4 The Cabinet Office will work with departmental leads to explore, but not limited to, where wrongdoing has been found, to ensure organisational learning, policies and procedures are in place and action is taken where required. 5.5 The Cabinet Office has built a community of practitioners across government to ensure events, such as the annual whistleblowing conference being planned for Spring 2025 and opportunities for sharing learning and best practice across organisations. The department will work on refining the online hub to support the sharing of best practice and to build a strong practitioner community. 5.6 The department will engage with other organisations in the public sector and wider to gain insight into the whistleblowing landscape and whether different approaches can be brought into the civil service. The Cabinet Office will also consider and respond to the Department for Business and Trade’s review of the whistleblowing framework. 5.7 It has been recognised and noted that the nature of the relationship between departments and agencies can vary. Through departmental leads and the working group, the Cabinet Office will explore what agencies expect from their department and vice versa. And how bigger organisations can support smaller ones where whistleblowing cases may be fewer. As part of the 2023-2024 data collection, departments have been asked to confirm if they are responding on behalf of their agencies or not. This has formed part of the assurance conversation by the Cabinet Office. 5.8 The Cabinet Office will also explore the development of a mentoring system for Nominated Officers with the community of practitioners so they can support and learn from each other.