Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure that staff in his Department who are under investigation for alleged misconduct are not named before those allegations are proven.

The Department's policies follow Civil Service HR's wider model discipline policy. This makes clear that all disciplinary matters are strictly confidential, with all parties pertaining to an investigation process required to always maintain confidentiality, including once the process has concluded.

This sits alongside a separate 'raising a concern' policy, which is sometimes referred to as whistleblowing, in line with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.