Information requested
‘ I am doing some research into whistleblowing / speak-up within the public sector and awareness/developments since January 2020 to the present day. For these purposes 'whistleblowing' and 'speak up' refers to 'protected disclosures' under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (incorporated into the Employment Rights Act 1996), and under which individuals may raise concerns. I have been reading the policies from your department, and have five questions for you please:
- Where your policy or process on whistleblowing / speaking up just refers to an individual by job title, please can you explain how employees in your organisation are aware of who the individual above is? (I am from outside central government and the civil service, so not certain if a junior employee would know how to link that job title to the real individual.)
- Do you document the whistleblowing and non-whistleblowing responsibilities (e.g. in a job description) of the individual(s) mentioned above? If so, please provide a copy. Where they have other non-whistleblowing responsibilities, a summary of those other duties will suffice. For instance, if they are a practising medical professional (nurse/doctor/researcher working in a hospital) or a senior civil servant (senior financial accountant, government lawyer governing HR matters).
- Please provide the amount of time the individual spends or is expected to spend on their whistleblowing / speak up responsibilities. (This can be working days per years, or hours per week for example. An estimated annualised number otherwise. It would help if you can confirm if it is actual / estimated / expected time.)
- How have you published the details of your Whistleblowing / Speak Up Officer / Nominated Officer? E.g. details of who to contact in the event of a concern. I would like to differentiate between media where you identify the role / title only (e.g. speak to the Nominated Officer) and identified individual (e.g. speak to Jane/John Smith). Please indicate if you do this via:
NHSCFA response
Section 5 of the Freedom to Speak Up Policy makes reference to speaking up internally. Where the procedure points to officers responsible by their job roles e.g. Senior Management, then employees would speak to a senior manager of their choosing. All staff, their names and jobs roles are documented on the organisational structure chart. All senior managers and leadership team and NHSCFA associated groups are trained in supporting staff through FTSU. NHSCFA provides further information internally for FTSU contacts, which staff are able to access.
Attached is a copy of the role description as published by the National Guardians Office and adapted for use by the NHSCFA
The FTSU was launched in 24/25 and initial analysis of role requirements based on previous history of whistleblowing and similar concerns within the organisation suggested that this role could be carried out on a voluntary basis with no formal prescribed hours allocation. This was reviewed at the end of the 24/25 cycle and confirmed as a reasonable and manageable expectation. This will continue to be reviewed on a yearly basis with the FTSU and their line manager.
Details of the role is published Freedom to speak up (go2.oak.com) - the organisation’s intranet and Find My FTSU Guardian - National Guardian's Office. We are in the process of appointing our next FTSU following the retirement of the recent incumbent. When this individual has completed their formal National Guardian office training they will be named in person on the same media
This document is 2025004 Freedom to Speak Up Guardian Role description Jan 2025.
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