Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to (a) facilitate whistleblowing in the NHS, and (b) ensure that whistleblowers are are not prevented from future employment in (i) the NHS, and (ii) other health-related careers?

Following the Freedom to Speak Up independent policy review report published in February 2015, the Department has taken a number of steps to help create a culture in the National Health Service where staff feel able to raise concerns and where those concerns are acted on without reprisal:

- The Department expects all NHS organisations to have in place speaking up policies. These policies should be complied with and communicated to all employees;

- In April 2016, the National Guardian’s Office was established, based in the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Dr Henrietta Hughes was appointed as National Guardian in October 2016. The National Guardian’s role is to support whistle-blowers in the NHS and improve reporting culture. The National Guardian advises and supports a network of individuals who act independently within NHS trusts. These ‘Freedom to Speak Up Guardians’ are responsible for developing a culture of openness in NHS trusts and NHS foundations trusts in England. Local Guardians have been appointed across all NHS trusts, foundation trusts and NHS providers in primary care and the independent sector are also appointing guardians. The size of the guardian network is over 500 individuals and is still growing;

- The Department funds a freephone helpline for the health and social care sector offering free, impartial and confidential guidance to staff who wish to raise concerns but are not sure how or what protections they have when they do;

- In addition to these actions, in 2017 the Government introduced legislation to impose a duty on prescribed persons (such as the CQC and the professional regulatory bodies) to report annually on whistleblowing disclosures made to them;

- The Government has also extended the definition of ‘worker’ within the whistleblowing statutory framework in the Employment Rights Act 1996 to include student nurses and student midwives, meaning those people are now afforded protection under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. The intention is to extend the definition further to include other healthcare students when Parliamentary time allows; and

- The Department is looking to strengthen protection for whistle-blowers further in legislation by putting further in place regulations which prohibit discrimination against whistle-blowers (or applicants believed by the prospective employer to have been whistle-blowers) when they apply for jobs with prescribed NHS employers. This will support NHS employers in being an exemplar to others in fostering a culture of openness and a willingness to report problems with care. The Department is analysing responses to the public consultation on the draft regulations.