The independent Committee on Standards in Public Life has published a new report, 'Recognising and Responding to Early Warning Signs in Public Sector Bodies'.
The report aims to support public sector organisations to put in place the processes needed to recognise the early warning signs of emerging problems and to facilitate a culture where speaking up about concerns and learning from mistakes are seen as a personal duty and are valued by everyone working within the organisation.
Launching the report at the end of March, Doug Chalmers, Chair of the independent Committee on Standards in Public Life said: “Recent public inquiries - Grenfell; Windrush; Infected Blood; Post Office Horizon IT - have laid bare the catastrophic impact of major public sector failure on human lives. There are common themes among these scandals - a failure to listen to and act on concerns raised; a failure to learn lessons from similar incidents, and a failure to identify and share emerging risks.
“The public sector has never been more complex, with a multitude of public bodies involved in the delivery of public services, as well as contracted private providers. There is value in taking a step back to consider what more public sector bodies can do to spot problems at the earliest possible stage - while there is still time to act and, potentially, avert a disaster.
“Our evidence shows there are things organisations can do to increase the likelihood of risks and issues being uncovered. When leaders are committed to advocating the benefits of an open culture and listen with curiosity when staff raise concerns, or offer suggestions for better ways of doing things, organisations can spot risks and make improvements.
“It is not always easy to speak up - it requires moral courage to be the person who says, ‘I’m not sure this is going to plan’. But in doing so, we honour the basic contract that holders of public office have with the public we serve.
“We want this report to bring change, stimulating leaders across the public sector to reflect on how they can better equip their organisations and people to identify and respond to the early signs of a problem and achieve better outcomes for the public.”
20 points for reflection
The report identifies 20 points for reflection which it hopes will help public sector leaders to consider where improvements can be made to their organisations’ processes and culture, and which employees can use to hold leaders to account.
