Whistleblowing reports for Personal Indepence Payment and Health Assessment Service
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
I am making an FOI request for any and all final reports into whistleblowing complaints or investigations following the receipt of a report from DWP employees or DWP suppliers or affiliated bodies.
I am looking for the final reports, decisions and/or comminques from the investigators and their summaries. I am comfortable that personal information as described in GDPR is redacted.
This should include:
- Number of whistleblowing reports received in relation to HAS and PIP
- Source of the whistleblowing report (internal/contractor/supplier etc)
- Category of report (legislative, commercial, ethics, legal etc)
- Service or function impacted
- The outcome of the investigation
For the purposes of this request I refer to government guidelines on what a whistleblowing report is:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...
To be covered by whistleblowing law, a worker who makes a disclosure must reasonably believe two things. The first is that they are acting in the public interest. This means in particular that personal grievances and complaints are not usually covered by whistleblowing law.
The second thing that a worker must reasonably believe is that the disclosure tends to show past, present or likely future wrongdoing falling into one or more of the following categories:
• criminal offences (this may include, for example, types of financial impropriety such as fraud)
• failure to comply with an obligation set out in law
• miscarriages of justice
• endangering of someone’s health and safety
• damage to the environment
• covering up wrongdoing in the above categories
Thank you,
Ben Nunn
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been received by the DWP FOI mailbox.
If your email is a valid Freedom of Information request, as per Section 8
of the FOI Act 2000, you can normally expect a response within 20 working
days.
Please note that email FOI responses will be issued from
[1][email address]
We recommend that you add this address to your email contacts otherwise
the response may be treated as Spam or Junk mail.
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request please
contact us.
Information on the Department for Work and Pensions can be accessed on
gov.uk here - [2]http://www.gov.uk/dwp
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.gov.uk/dwp
Dear Benjamin Nunn,
I am writing in response to your request for information, received 23rd
December.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
I appeal your decision. You have applied a cost limit to the search of information, whilst already indicating that this information was already provided to another body.
This means this information does exist, this information is in a format that is readable and available, that this infomemation is consolidated and does not require an extensive search.
Further in the application of Freedom of Information request law you are required to measure your exemption against the public interest.
Given that the information may be relevant to nearly 7 million claims for personal independence payment, and that existing public domain information and responses to my FOI indicate: a risk and impact assessment for personal independence payment were never completed or indeed started, I would argue that this information is in the public interest.
It is in the public interest as the whistleblowing reports are part of a wider public interest in the implementation of personal independence payment, which from the outset did not have a complete risk and impact assessment completed.
One would assume it is the volume of information, not finding it that is encouraging you to seek an exemption. As pointed out in my original FOI and within this communique, any high level management information is also relevant to this request.
Because of this the whistleblowing reports are in the public interest and would out favour any exemption you wish to apply under Freedom of Information law.
Therefore I appeal your decision on the basis that the impact and relevance of such information is in the public interest, outweighing any exemption you may apply.
Yours faithfully,
Benjamin Nunn
Thank you for contacting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been received by the DWP Freedom of Information mailbox and will be
processed accordingly.
Please note that this mailbox is for Freedom of Information (FOI) or
Internal Review (IR) requests only – If you have submitted a non FOI or IR
related email then we may not be able to action it.
Timescales for responding
Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests
If your email is a valid FOI request, as per Section 8 of the FOI Act
2000, you can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
Internal Review (IR) Requests
You can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
We will respond to all valid FOI and IR requests within our statutory
timescales, if we are unable to do so then we will contact you to explain
why. Please note that we are not able to process your FOI or IR request in
any shorter timescales that you may indicate.
Receiving a response from us
Please note that email FOI and IR responses will be issued from
[email address]
We recommend that you add this address to your email contacts otherwise
the response may be treated as Spam or Junk by your email account
provider.
Further Information
Should you have any further queries in connection with your FOI or IR
request please contact us.
More information on the DWP can be accessed on gov.uk here –
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
References
Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
Dear Benjamin Nunn,
I am writing in response to your request for information, received 25th
January.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
Just to say that I estimate this as a grade 7 working for between 10k - 20k including all associated costs.
Bear in mind the responsibility this person must bear in the interests of balance, fairness and demonstrating effective internal and external staff supplier processes.
This is in addition to public interest. Place a value either way - I can’t see it.
Yours faithfully,
Benjamin Nunn
Thank you for contacting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been received by the DWP Freedom of Information mailbox and will be
processed accordingly.
Please note that this mailbox is for Freedom of Information (FOI) or
Internal Review (IR) requests only – If you have submitted a non FOI or IR
related email then we may not be able to action it.
Timescales for responding
Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests
If your email is a valid FOI request, as per Section 8 of the FOI Act
2000, you can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
Internal Review (IR) Requests
You can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
We will respond to all valid FOI and IR requests within our statutory
timescales, if we are unable to do so then we will contact you to explain
why. Please note that we are not able to process your FOI or IR request in
any shorter timescales that you may indicate.
Receiving a response from us
Please note that email FOI and IR responses will be issued from
[email address]
We recommend that you add this address to your email contacts otherwise
the response may be treated as Spam or Junk by your email account
provider.
Further Information
Should you have any further queries in connection with your FOI or IR
request please contact us.
More information on the DWP can be accessed on gov.uk here –
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
References
Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now