Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she is taking steps to ensure that staff in her Department who are under investigation for alleged misconduct are not named before those allegations are proven.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Allegations of misconduct against a Department for Culture, Media and Sport employee are internally investigated under either the department’s Grievance or Whistleblowing Policy & Procedures. Investigations of this nature are carried out in strict confidence. Names of individuals under investigation are therefore not made public, either within the department or externally. The Department's policies follow Civil Service HR's wider model policies and best practices.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what protection is afforded by the relevant agencies to those disclosing information to the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament under whistleblowing arrangements as recommended by the Committee's Annual Report 2018–2019.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
It is vital for trust and integrity within the security and intelligence services that all employees are able to report wrongdoing and to do so in confidence.
There are appropriate policies in place should members of staff in the relevant services wish to report their concerns and a number of internal and external routes available for whistle-blowing, one of which is through the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, but all of which the Government considers to be safe and effective.
Asked by: Anum Qaisar (Scottish National Party - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a new independent complaints mechanism for British International Investment.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
British International Investment (BII) has an effective complaints mechanism [https://www.bii.co.uk/en/complaints-whistleblowing/] that allows external parties to report alleged breaches of the Policy on Responsible Investing (PRI). If deemed eligible, complaints will be investigated, and where appropriate, BII will enable access to remedy.
The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism is under the direction of the Head of Compliance. Decisions required under the Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are made independently of the departments involved in pre-investment due diligence and post-investment monitoring of environmental, social and business integrity issues. The Head of Compliance has a reporting line to the Board's Audit & Compliance Committee.
FCDO undertakes periodic reviews of BII's assurance processes and recommends actions to improve their robustness, and monitors implementation of these. Any significant issues reported to FCDO regarding BII are notified to FCDO's Internal Audit and Investigations Department.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Oxfam's report entitled Sick Development, published on 26 June 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of reports of human rights abuses by British International Investment-funded private healthcare providers.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
British International Investment (BII) and the FCDO have reviewed the report. BII has strong policies in place through its Policy on Responsible Investing, which draws on the standards set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Legally binding action plans are agreed to improve standards of investees over a defined period; and investees are risk assessed on a quarterly basis. Alongside this, BII has an established confidential complaints mechanism [https://www.bii.co.uk/en/complaints-whistleblowing/]. BII investigates any complaints and take steps to address any failures in meeting desired standards.
Since the reported investments were made, BII has refocused its health investments into private hospitals and will only invest in hospitals that support a significant proportion of users who are on government payment schemes or on low incomes.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what (a) due diligence and (b) accountability mechanisms his Department has in place for British International Investment; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of those mechanisms.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
British International Investment (BII) undertakes impact, commercial, environmental, social (including gender and diversity), governance and business integrity due diligence by specialist teams over a period of several months prior to a decision by the Investment Committee. Enhanced due diligence is undertaken for projects viewed to be high risk. BII has an established confidential complaints mechanism [https://www.bii.co.uk/en/complaints-whistleblowing/], which allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the Policy on Responsible Investing by an investee, portfolio company of a fund or BII. BII regularly reports to FCDO on both environmental, social and governance (ESG) and Business Integrity issues. FCDO undertakes periodic reviews of BII's assurance processes and recommends actions to improve their robustness, and monitors implementation of these.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases of whistleblowing were (1) reported, and (2) investigated, by the Civil Service in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022, and (d) 2023 to date.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Noble Lord to my previous answers - HL7792 and HL8058 - provided in May 2023.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many instances of whistleblowing there were to the Prudential Regulation Authority in each of the past four years.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
I refer the Noble Lord to my answer HL8060 on 5th June.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help improve safeguarding at mental health providers.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government announced on 23 January 2023 that we would be conducting a Rapid Review into mental health inpatient settings, with a specific focus on how we use data and evidence, including complaints, feedback and whistleblowing alerts, to identify risks to safety. The review has now concluded and its findings are expected to be published shortly.
NHS England has also established a three-year Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Inpatient Quality Transformation Programme which seeks to tackle the root causes of unsafe, poor-quality inpatient care in mental health, learning disability and autism settings.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases of whistleblowing were (1) reported, and (2) investigated, by the Civil Service in (a) 2020 (b) 2021, (c) 2022, and (d) 2023.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Noble Lord to my answer HL7792 on 25th May.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the outcomes for people discharged from mental health wards.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. We are working with the National Health Service to improve inpatient mental health care and subsequent patient outcomes. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to expanding and transforming NHS mental health services by March 2024, including those provided in an inpatient setting.
Where the quality or safety of inpatient care falls short, it is important that we learn from any mistakes to improve care across the NHS and protect patients in the future. This is why we have conducted a rapid review into mental health inpatient settings, with a specific focus on how we use data and evidence, including complaints, feedback and whistleblowing alerts, to identify risks to safety and bring about improvements to outcome-based, therapeutic care. The review’s report is expected to be published shortly.
NHS England has also established a three-year quality transformation programme, which seeks to tackle the root causes of unsafe, poor-quality inpatient care in mental health, learning disability and autism settings.