The FDA has asked the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to conduct an investigation into ministerial bullying in the civil service and the absence of an effective procedure to deal with it.
Our report on ministerial bullying, submitted as evidence to the HSE, uses research from our survey of over 650 senior civil servants. This survey found:
General Secretary of the FDA, Dave Penman stated the report demonstrates “bullying and harassment by ministers is going unchecked across Whitehall” and “can no longer be dismissed as isolated incidents”.
Speaking live on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Penman highlighted that the current process for dealing with ministerial misconduct, which relies on the ‘good chap principle’, “has failed”. Civil servants feel “there is no point raising a complaint, because no one will address it”, he continued. The current system “relies on a Prime Minister doing the right thing, and if a Prime Minister won’t do the right thing – then the whole system falls apart”.
Penman told Kuenssberg that “because of the humiliating, demeaning behaviour that people are reporting, they are not actually giving ministers the advice that they need”. A third of respondents to our survey said they did not feel confident about giving frank advice to ministers – this rose to half of respondents among those who had witnessed unacceptable behaviour.
“Employers have a legal obligation to keep their employees safe from harm”, argues Penman. From our report it is clear that “when it comes to bullying and harassment by ministers, the civil service is failing to do so”. The General Secretary concludes that:
Penman’s words were widely reported on including The Guardian, BBC News, The Times, Sky News, The Herald, The Belfast Telegraph, MailOnline, The Spectator, The Evening Standard, Politics Home, Nation.Cymru and many more.
The General Secretary’s appearance on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg was syndicated across BBC Radio (national and local) and was featured in news segments on a wide range of music radio including Radio X.
If Prime Minister Andy Burnham wants a different political culture, he needs to start with the Ministerial Code says Dave Penman.
FDA General Secretary Dave Penman wrote to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, urging him to introduce a fully independent process for dealing with bullying and harassment complaints to his new Ministerial Code
Dave Penman has labelled new Commission “an opportunity missed” and called on the government to go further and look at parliament for a more independent system.
