Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Thirty-Sixth Report - Investigation into whistleblowing in the civil service
Public Accounts Committee
HC 457
Published 25 May 2024
Recommendations
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 …
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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.
HM Treasury
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6
Accepted
Cabinet Office introduced whistleblowing data collection and health check tools in 2017
Recommendation
In 2017, the Cabinet Office introduced data collection from departments following this Committee’s recommendations in 2016.7 The data collection process is known as the annual Raising a Concern (RAC) collection exercise, which includes a qualitative survey and a quantitative return. …
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Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will review the annual data collection for 2024-25 and widen the data set to focus on clarity and consensus on the categorisation of cases and outcomes, clarifying the time taken to conclude an investigation, requesting additional information on the experience / treatment of the whistleblower, ensuring nil responses are submitted, following up on cases which were ongoing at the time of collection, and holding departmental assurance conversations.
HM Treasury
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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 …
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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.
HM Treasury
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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 …
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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.
HM Treasury
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22
Accepted in Part
Cabinet Office has scope to do more to actively surface and share whistleblowing best practices.
Recommendation
The Cabinet Office said it could play a role in collating information across the civil service and share back what works well and what departments can do more of.56 For example, the NAO reported that some departments do not have …
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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.
HM Treasury
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24
Accepted in Part
Larger departments should provide more support and expertise to smaller agencies on whistleblowing.
Recommendation
We were interested to hear from departments on any improvements that they think can be made in terms of how they can help maintain a high standard of whistleblowing across the civil service. DWP suggested that large departments have a …
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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.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (18)
2
Conclusion
Accepted
There is a lack of data analysis and sharing of insights regarding whistleblowing across of the civil service. The Cabinet Office does not utilise its central position to analyse the cross-government data it collects. This could help identify trends and valuable insights that could be shared across the civil service. …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office has already robustly analysed submitted data, categorising themes, clarifying investigation times, and exploring whistleblower experience. It will work with PSFA to explore 2024-25 data themes, look at People Survey results, and continue benchmarking annual data for year-on-year comparisons.
4
Conclusion
Accepted
The Cabinet Office and other departments do not seek feedback from whistleblowers and so are missing vital insights into the effectiveness of the process. The ‘whistleblowing heath check’ guidance from the Cabinet Office suggests departments should gather feedback from individuals on whether their concerns have been handled responsibly, professionally and …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will work with departments to develop methods, including an anonymised voluntary survey, to capture whistleblower experiences, including those who report anonymously, by the end of 2024. It will also ensure senior leaders oversee victimisation claims and promote a safe-to-challenge culture.
5
Conclusion
Accepted
There is a lack of joined up thinking when it comes to sharing good practice across the civil service. There are some examples of good practice across the civil service but the Cabinet Office needs to do more to promote and disseminate good practice to help drive improvement and learning. …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will build on existing work to share best practice, explore how mature models can be shared across government, and continue working with departmental leads to ensure organisational learning. It will also explore agencies' expectations, how larger organisations can support smaller ones, and develop a mentoring system for Nominated Officers, with a target implementation by end of 2024.
1
Conclusion
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Cabinet Office, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) on whistleblowing in the civil service.1
Government Response Summary
The government appears to be responding to an unstated recommendation regarding data collection and analysis for 2024-25, committing to specific actions such as widening data sets, clarifying categorisation, tracking victimisation claims, commissioning data returns, and supporting practitioners.
7
Conclusion
Accepted
Cabinet Office’s information on concerns and arrangements across the civil service has improved but it still has several quality limitations. For example, there is no method for capturing outcomes for concerns that are ‘ongoing’ at the point of an annual data collection and no structured data on what the process …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will review the annual data collection for 2024-25, widening the data set to focus on clarity of case categorisation, time to conclude investigations, whistleblower experience, nil responses, follow up on ongoing cases and assurance conversations, targeting implementation by Spring 2025.
8
Conclusion
Accepted
HMRC told us it understands that it is important to whistleblowers that it investigates as quickly as possible, and both HMRC and DWP monitor the length of time cases take.13 But the Cabinet Office is not collating this metric from departments.14 HMRC told us that more complex cases can cause …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will review the annual data collection for 2024-25, widening the data set to focus on clarity of case categorisation, time to conclude investigations, whistleblower experience, nil responses, follow up on ongoing cases and assurance conversations, targeting implementation by Spring 2025.
9
Conclusion
Accepted
There are actions taken on a local level that are also not currently captured in the central data collection. The National Audit Office found that under 5% of completed cases in the period 2019–20 to 2021–22 are recorded as having led to changes in policies and procedures.16 The Cabinet Office …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will review the annual data collection for 2024-25 and widen the data set to focus on clarity and consensus on the categorisation of cases and outcomes, clarifying the time taken to conclude an investigation, requesting additional information on the experience / treatment of the whistleblower, ensuring nil responses are submitted, following up on cases which were ongoing at the time of collection, and holding departmental assurance conversations.
10
Conclusion
Accepted
The Government People Group (within the Cabinet Office) does not systematically assess the departments’ returns for completeness or quality or to assure the adequacy of 7 HC Committee of Public Accounts, Making a whistleblowing policy work: progress update, Twenty-ninth Report of Session 2015–16, HC 602, March 2016 8 Q 1 …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office states that during the 2023-24 data collection exercise, it took robust action through regular engagement with practitioners to ensure data accuracy, further bolstered by clarifying departmental responses on behalf of agencies, and ran drop-in sessions and held assurance meetings with practitioners to support completion of annual data returns, clarify submission processes, and promote the importance of whistleblowing.
11
Conclusion
Accepted
The National Audit Office reported that fraud accounts for around 40% of concerns raised but the central data does not indicate the seriousness of any of the types of concerns raised.22 HMRC and DWP told us that they both have a very small portion of fraud-related whistleblowing cases in proportion …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will analyse data to categorize key themes, clarify investigation times, explore whistleblower experience, ensure all responses are submitted, follow up on ongoing cases, hold assurance conversations, assess whistleblower experience, and scrutinize areas of concern, also working with the Public Sector Fraud Agency to explore any themes identified from 2024-2025 data.
12
Conclusion
Accepted
The Cabinet Office informed us that the health check data, as opposed to its annual RAC data collection, is where there is inconsistency in the data collected from departments.25 The variable data on departments whistleblowing arrangements makes it hard to compare and evaluate if they are currently effective or not. …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will review the annual data collection for 2024-25 and widen the data set to focus on clarity and consensus on the categorisation of cases and outcomes, clarifying the time taken to conclude an investigation, requesting additional information on the experience / treatment of the whistleblower, ensuring nil responses are submitted, following up on cases which were ongoing at the time of collection, and holding departmental assurance conversations.
13
Conclusion
Accepted
The National Audit Office found that just 52% of people ‘think it is safe to challenge the way things are done’, from their review of responses to the 2022 Civil Service People Survey. The equivalent figure for the NHS was 61.5%.29 The Cabinet Office told us it has improved over …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will foster the sharing of best practice through the online hub, continue to deliver events, develop a learning offer, promote the Speak Up campaign, commission a survey of whistleblowers, focus the Speak Up campaign on the cultural side of raising concerns, and consider introducing a civil service-wide whistleblowing champion.
14
Conclusion
Accepted
The Cabinet Office told us that just under half of whistleblowers come forward anonymously, acknowledging that this fact shows it has more work to do to convince people it is safe to speak up.31 We asked HMRC and DWP how they embed a culture that encourages people to raise concerns.32 …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will foster the sharing of best practice through the online hub, continue to deliver events, develop a learning offer, promote the Speak Up campaign, commission a survey of whistleblowers, focus the Speak Up campaign on the cultural side of raising concerns, and consider introducing a civil service-wide whistleblowing champion.
15
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The National Audit Office found a mixed picture when it reviewed the health check material against the ‘leaders role-model behaviour’ indicator which suggests senior leaders should role-model a supportive culture that gives people confidence to raise concerns.37 DWP noted that in large organisations such as itself and HMRC, the culture …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will continue to foster the sharing of whistleblowing best practice across the Civil Service, delivered a conference for policy leads, developed learning for departmental officers, and will work with departmental leads to commission a survey of whistleblowers.
16
Conclusion
Accepted
The annual RAC data collection does not cover the treatment of whistleblowers; for example whether a whistleblower in a specific case has experienced any mistreatment, such as victimisation or bullying.39 The ‘whistleblowing heath check’ guidance issued by the Cabinet Office suggests departments should gather feedback from individuals on whether their …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will work with departmental leads to better capture whistleblowers' experiences, including victimisation or harassment, develop an anonymised feedback survey for whistleblowers, ensure senior leader oversight of victimisation cases, and share lessons learned across government.
17
Conclusion
We asked both HMRC and DWP how they currently support whistleblowers. HMRC told us the majority of support comes from nominated officers within the department but it also points people to other sources of advice and support, such as the employee assistance programme, the trade unions or the Advisory, Conciliation …
18
Conclusion
Accepted
We asked the Cabinet Office if any interviews are undertaken with whistleblowers to capture their perspective of the experience. It told us it is not aware of interviews taking place currently. There was a hesitancy from the Cabinet Office on the method of capturing feedback as it believed this could …
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office will work with departmental leads to better capture whistleblowers' experiences, including whether they have experienced victimisation or harassment, develop an anonymised feedback survey for whistleblowers, ensure senior leader oversight of victimisation cases, and share lessons learned across government.
21
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We asked the Cabinet Office how it currently shares good practice. The Cabinet Office told us it holds an annual conference where it brings together nominated officers (who support whistleblowers) and policy leads (who are responsible for the policy) and HR professionals.53 It also has an online hub community of …
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.
23
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 …
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.