2020018

Information requested

I am making inquiries about the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and the role of prescribed persons as defined in the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014, and their reporting obligations under the Prescribed Persons (Reports on Disclosures of Information) Regulations 2017.

According to my understanding of the guidance document published by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy entitled ‘’Whistleblowing: list of prescribed people and bodies’ (updated 13 February 2020), I believe that your organisation may be a prescribed person or body for the purposes of the above legislation, regulation and guidance.

(In respect of the devolved Governments within the UK, there may be equivalent legislation and so it is asked that this request is to be treated as including the equivalent legislation.)

Noting the foregoing, I should be grateful if you would respond to the following questions please:

1. Does your organisation take action to protect external whistleblowers from unjustified treatment by their employers or others?

   Please select one of the below answers if possible -

   1. Yes (please explain what action is taken)
   2. No
   3. Not known
2. Does any protection against unjustified treatment provided by your organisation extend to persons reporting on behalf of external whistleblowers?
   1. Yes (please explain what action is taken)
   2. No
   3. Not known
3. Does any protection extend to proposed or intended unjustified action against an external whistleblower contemplated by his/her employer or another in respect of the disclosure?
   1. Yes (please explain what action is taken)
   2. No
   3. Not known
4. Does your organisation offer any reward or bounty for information received from an external whistleblower in respect of information about which you are the prescribed body or person?
   1. Yes
   2. No
   3. Not known
5. Does your organisation publish for the public a step by step guide on how it follows up on external whistleblower information?
   1. Yes
   2. No
   3. Not known
6. Where your organisation does not feel itself to be legally competent to engage with a disclosure made by an external whistleblower, do you have a policy and process to refer that disclosure to another prescribed body/person/regulator or other agency better placed to deal with it?
   1. Yes (please provide a copy of the policy, where written)
   2. No
   3. Not known
7. Where in the circumstances described in Q6 above, your organisation passes information to another prescribed body etc., do you have a policy and process to advise the external whistleblower that the disclosure has been passed to another body etc?
   1. Yes (please provide a copy of the policy, where written)
   2. No
   3. Not known
8. Where an external whistleblower may be dissatisfied with his/her dealings with your organisation, is there an appeals policy and process which engage someone who is independent of the investigating department?
   1. Yes (please provide a copy of the policy, where written)
   2. No
   3. Not known
9. Does your organisation publish FAQ to advise and assist external whistleblowers considering making a disclosure to you?
   1. Yes (please provide the FAQ or direct me to it)
   2. No
   3. Not known
10. Does all your staff which communicates with or otherwise manages external whistleblowers receive specialist and on-going training for that purpose?
    1. Yes
    2. No
    3. Not known
11. Where, following a disclosure to your organisation by an external whistleblower about a matter for which you are prescribed, an alleged act of retaliation occurs against the external whistleblower by the employer or another person, does your organisation investigate the alleged act of retaliation?
    1. Yes
    2. No
    3. It would depend on the facts
    4. Not known
12. Please describe what criteria you consider in deciding whether to investigate information received from an external whistleblower about a matter in respect of which you are prescribed?
13. Does your organisation distinguish between public complaints and external whistleblowers?
    1. Yes (please describe the essential differences in your approach between managing public complaints and external whistleblower disclosures).
    2. No
    3. Not known
14. Apart from any information on your website, does your organisation undertake any public awareness programme(s) regarding whistleblowing?
    1. Yes (if so please provide details)
    2. No
    3. Not known
15. In respect of Article 5(c)(ii), Prescribed Persons (Reports on Disclosures of Information) Regulations 2017, please disclose any and all (appropriately redacted) reports which describe how workers’ disclosures have impacted on the relevant person’s ability to perform its functions and meet its objectives during the reporting periods 2017 – 18, 2018 – 19, 2019 – 20.

NHSCFA response

I am making inquiries about the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and the role of prescribed persons as defined in the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014, and their reporting obligations under the Prescribed Persons (Reports on Disclosures of Information) Regulations 2017.

According to my understanding of the guidance document published by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy entitled ‘’Whistleblowing: list of prescribed people and bodies’ (updated 13 February 2020), I believe that your organisation may be a prescribed person or body for the purposes of the above legislation, regulation and guidance.

(In respect of the devolved Governments within the UK, there may be equivalent legislation and so it is asked that this request is to be treated as including the equivalent legislation.)

Noting the foregoing, I should be grateful if you would respond to the following questions please:

1. Q1Does your organisation take action to protect external whistleblowers from unjustified treatment by their employers or others?

   Please select one of the below answers if possible -

   1. Yes (please explain what action is taken) The identity of the whistleblower is kept separate from the report to protect the whistleblower. The identity of the whistleblower will only be released by the Information Governance Officer if it is deemed necessary to continue the investigation.
   2. No
   3. Not known
2. Does any protection against unjustified treatment provided by your organisation extend to persons reporting on behalf of external whistleblowers?
   1. Yes (please explain what action is taken) The reporter has the option to be either an anonymous or a confidential source. If they choose to be a confidential source, then their identity is held in confidence and can only be disclosed by the Information Governance Officer.
   2. No
   3. Not known
3. Does any protection extend to proposed or intended unjustified action against an external whistleblower contemplated by his/her employer or another in respect of the disclosure?
   1. Yes (please explain what action is taken)
   2. No
   3. Not known The Authority would not be aware of any intended behaviour.
4. Does your organisation offer any reward or bounty for information received from an external whistleblower in respect of information about which you are the prescribed body or person?
   1. Yes
   2. No. The Authority does not offer a reward or bounty for information received.
   3. Not known
5. Does your organisation publish for the public a step by step guide on how it follows up on external whistleblower information?
   1. Yes
   2. No The Authority does not publish any documents on this subject.
   3. Not known
6. Where your organisation does not feel itself to be legally competent to engage with a disclosure made by an external whistleblower, do you have a policy and process to refer that disclosure to another prescribed body/person/regulator or other agency better placed to deal with it?
   1. Yes (please provide a copy of the policy, where written)
   2. No The Authority does not have a defined policy on this topic, however if a report is not suitable for the NHSCFA it will be disseminated to the most appropriate body.
   3. Not known
7. Where in the circumstances described in Q6 above, your organisation passes information to another prescribed body etc., do you have a policy and process to advise the external whistleblower that the disclosure has been passed to another body etc?
   1. Yes (please provide a copy of the policy, where written)
   2. No. The Authority does not have a policy.
   3. Not known
8. Where an external whistleblower may be dissatisfied with his/her dealings with your organisation, is there an appeals policy and process which engage someone who is independent of the investigating department?
   1. Yes (please provide a copy of the policy, where written) .This procedure is handled by the NHSCFS Complaints Dept NHSCFA-complaints-policy-v2.pdf
   2. No
   3. Not known
9. Does your organisation publish FAQ to advise and assist external whistleblowers considering making a disclosure to you?
   1. Yes (please provide the FAQ or direct me to it)
   2. No. Not specifically however our on line reporting tool provides guidance on how to report fraud if you are or are not a whistleblower.
   3. Not known
10. Does all your staff which communicates with or otherwise manages external whistleblowers receive specialist and on-going training for that purpose?
    1. Yes Staff have been provided training by our in house specialists.
    2. No
    3. Not known
11. Where, following a disclosure to your organisation by an external whistleblower about a matter for which you are prescribed, an alleged act of retaliation occurs against the external whistleblower by the employer or another person, does your organisation investigate the alleged act of retaliation?
    1. Yes
    2. No. No, our remit is to investigate fraud, bribery and corruption within the NHS.
    3. It would depend on the facts
    4. Not known
12. Please describe what criteria you consider in deciding whether to investigate information received from an external whistleblower about a matter in respect of which you are prescribed? The criteria is the same whether or not the individual identifies themselves as a whistleblower. Each report is reviewed and prioritised with a risk based approach.
13. Does your organisation distinguish between public complaints and external whistleblowers?
    1. Yes (please describe the essential differences in your approach between managing public complaints and external whistleblower disclosures).Yes, an individual can specifically mark whether or not they believe themselves to be a whistleblower. However, all reports go through the same intelligence led, risk based approach to prioritisation.
    2. No
    3. Not known
14. Apart from any information on your website, does your organisation undertake any public awareness programme(s) regarding whistleblowing?
    1. Yes (if so please provide details)
    2. No. No, the Authority has not undertaken any public awareness programme specifically for whistleblowers.
    3. Not known
15. In respect of Article 5(c)(ii), Prescribed Persons (Reports on Disclosures of Information) Regulations 2017, please disclose any and all (appropriately redacted) reports which describe how workers’ disclosures have impacted on the relevant person’s ability to perform its functions and meet its objectives during the reporting periods 2017 – 18, 2018 – 19, 2019 – 20.The information (2018-19 & 2019-20) is published on the NHSCFA website and is therefore reasonably accessible. The reports can be accessed here:

Prescribed Person Annual Report 2018-2019

Prescribed Person Annual Report

The report for 2017-2018 is contained within the NHSCFA Annual Report, page 57:

NHSCFA ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018