Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 23
23
Acknowledged
Departments inconsistently apply whistleblowing guidance to their associated arm’s-length bodies.
Conclusion
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 C&AG’s Report, Figure 4 52 Qq 52, 53 53 Qq 1, 12 54 C&AG’s Report, para 3.11 55 Q 3 56 Q 33 57 Q 21 58 C&AG’s Report Figures 6, 9 59 Q 21 60 Q 12 14 Investigation into whistleblowing in the civil service departments.61 The Cabinet Office noted that the nature of the relationships between departments and arm’s-length bodies can vary across the civil service, departments have different working practices and so it expected that there would be some slight variances. The Cabinet Office told us it was talking to departments about how they can be more consistent in how they account for whistleblowing in their arm’s-length bodies and ensure these bodies are also following the policy.62
Government Response Summary
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 for Business and Trade’s review, explore agency expectations, and explore a mentoring system for Nominated Officers.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
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 organizational 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 organizations. 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 organizations 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 recognized 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 organizations 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.