Public sector leaders should do more to encourage a “speak up” culture in their organisations, the Committee on Standards in Public Life has said.
A report by the independent standards watchdog, published today, says a more “open” and “curious” approach will improve public bodies’ ability to spot and react to early warning signs, enabling improvements that could potentially avert disaster.
And it says leadership is "the most important factor in an organisation that successfully identifies and addresses emerging issues promptly and is willing to learn from its mistakes".
Launching the report, Recognising and responding to early warning signs in public sector bodies, CSPL chair Doug Chalmers said: “Recent public inquiries – Grenfell; Windrush; Infected Blood; Post Office Horizon IT – have laid bare the catastrophic impact of major public sector failure on human lives.
“There are common themes among these scandals – a failure to listen to and act on concerns raised; a failure to learn lessons from similar incidents, and a failure to identify and share emerging risks.”
“Our evidence shows there are things organisations can do to increase the likelihood of risks and issues being uncovered.”
Emphasising the key role that public sector leaders must play, he added: “When leaders are committed to advocating the benefits of an open culture and listen with curiosity when staff raise concerns, or offer suggestions for better ways of doing things, organisations can spot risks and make improvements.
“It is not always easy to speak up – it requires moral courage to be the person who says, ‘I’m not sure this is going to plan’. But in doing so, we honour the basic contract that holders of public office have with the public we serve.”
The report says leaders must be "clear that they welcome potential problems being brought to their attention early and that everyone in the organisation has a duty to deal with the public with openness and honesty", and "role models for the standards they expect of others, even when they are under pressure". And it says leaders "must address behaviour that is inconsistent with a culture that values people raising concerns".
Chalmers, a former British Army lieutenant general who became the committee’s chair in 2023, said the committee wants the report to “bring change, stimulating leaders across the public sector to reflect on how they can better equip their organisations and people to identify and respond to the early signs of a problem and achieve better outcomes for the public.”
The government has committed to introduce a duty of candour for public servants to “address the unacceptable defensive culture prevalent across too much of the public sector”. The CSPL report says new legislation “will need to be supported by sustained attention from leaders of public bodies to ensure that the law is both the catalyst for change and is supported by a culture that values and promotes openness over defensiveness”.
The report also includes excerpts from evidence given to the committee by permanent secretaries.
Sir Matthew Rycroft, the Home Office’s perm sec, told CSPL: “My starting point is that, when something does go wrong, as it did on Windrush, and often elsewhere in organisations, it is never the case that no one knew what was going on. There is always someone who knew.
“Quite often, they are relatively junior, relatively frontline, and feel as though they do not have a voice. They feel as though it is not their job to wave a red flag."
He added that "the cultural change is to make sure that every single person knows that they do have a voice and they use that voice to flag their concern".
National Audit Office head Gareth Davies told the committee that having staff with the right skills, attitudes, behaviours, experience and the confidence to do the right thing is “a large part of the battle”.
“The best governance systems in the world and the best data in the world cannot protect an organisation or the public interest against the wrong individuals,” he said.
The report also includes 20 “points for reflection” to assist leaders and which employees “can use to hold their leaders to account”. These include the following on creating a speak-up culture:
- What do you do to build an open culture where people feel comfortable raising issues, asking questions and sharing their ideas?
- How do you help your employees to understand that everyone in your organisation has a responsibility to speak up when they see something going wrong?
- Are there clear and well-understood ways for people to raise concerns formally? How do you know these routes are trusted? How do you ensure that when people speak up, they are protected and not victimized.
The report also contains a warning for departments on getting the right balance in their oversight of arm's-length bodies.
It says: “When we spoke to ALBs, we picked up on a sentiment from some bodies that there has been a shift in the degree of oversight exercised by departments in recent years.
“A non-executive who has worked in a number of large public bodies over the last six years told us that these bodies felt that “the arm was getting shorter” and there was a greater tendency for departments to micromanage. We were told that this is problematic because it muddies accountability.”
Cat Little, the Cabinet Office's perm sec, told the committee that she sees her role as an accounting officer "to have a close, trusted relationship with the chairs and the chief executives of all of my ALBs" and that she wants them "to feel able to come to me with any questions, concerns, and advice, and I want them to know that I take an interest and I care about what they are doing".
She said it "takes time to build that level of relationship and trust".
Little also told the committee that she wants there to be greater professionalisation of "what it means to be a civil servant and uphold the civil service code". She said that during her time as a chartered accountant, she had to explain each year how she had upheld her professional duties and that she thinks "the same is required of the civil service".
Responding to the report, Elizabeth Gardiner, chief executive of whistleblowing charity Protect, said it "identifies the vital role whistleblowers play in warning of risks and holding organisations to account".
"Effective whistleblowing systems are not a nice to have – they are essential to prevent harm and save money," she added. "The government needs to take clear action and introduce a statutory duty on employers to investigate whistleblower concerns and give workers the confidence they will be listened to when they speak up.”