Union wants action on bullying in government

Bullying and harassment by ministers is going unchecked across Whitehall and can no longer be dismissed as isolated incidents, according to research by the FDA civil servants’ union. It called on the HSE to conduct an investigation into ministerial bullying, and the lack of an effective procedure to deal with it, following a survey of 650 senior civil servants.

This found that 17% of respondents had witnessed unacceptable behaviour at work by a minister over the past year. Almost seven in 10 (69%) said that if they had to raise a concern about this behaviour they did not have confidence it would be dealt with fairly. This rose to 84% of those respondents who had witnessed such behaviour. A third of respondents said they did not feel confident giving frank advice to ministers, rising to half of those who had witnessed unacceptable behaviour.

FDA general secretary Dave Penman said the current process for dealing with ministerial misconduct relies on the “good chap principle” and has failed. Civil servants feel there is no point raising a complaint because no one will address it.

“Only the prime minister has the power to address these issues, his refusal has meant we have no choice now but to ask the HSE to intervene,” he said.