Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's guidance is on (a) personal relationships in the workplace (b) relationships between Ministers and officials and (c) ensuring equitable treatment of staff; and what steps his Department takes to enforce that guidance.

All civil servants are expected to abide by the Civil Service Code, which is the overarching framework that requires staff to carry out their role with dedication and a commitment to the Civil Service and its core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. The requirement to abide by the code is set out in contracts of employment and as such the Department does not have a specific additional policy governing personal relationships at work and relationships between Ministers and officials. The Department’s guidance on ensuring equitable treatment of staff is contained in the internal anti-bullying, harassment, victimisation and discrimination policies.

The obligations of Civil Servants under the Code are set out in individual contracts and recommunicated on a regular basis. If it is believed that appropriate standards of behaviour have not been maintained, these would be dealt with under the Department’s Conduct policy. In addition, the Department’s Raising a Concern policy outlines routes available to staff to raise concerns about the behaviours of others and/or if they wish to raise a concern under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.