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Correspondence  on  external  independent  reviews  x  2  of  CQC’s  whistleblowing  governance  as  both  an  employer  and  a  prescribed  body  under  PIDA      (A)    From:  Minh  Alexander  <minhalexander@aol.com>  Subject:  Information  request  on  (1)  external  independent  review  2014  of  CQC’s  handling  of  protected  disclosures  (2)  third  party  review  of  whistleblowing  arrangements  for  staff  Date:  14  July  2015  21:40:58  BST  To:  Information  Access  <information.access@cqc.org.uk>    To  CQC  Information  Access  Team,  14  July  2015      Dear  Sirs,      Information  request  on  external  independent  review  2014  of  CQC’s  handling  of  protected  disclosures      As  per  twitter  correspondence  earlier  today,  I  would  be  grateful  to  know  if  this  review,  which  CQC  told  the  House  of  Commons  Health  Committee  in  February  2014  that  it  was  conducting,  has  been  carried  out.  [1]      "31.  An  external  independent  review  will  also  be  conducted  looking  at  how  CQC  handles  protected  disclosures  made  to  it  as  a  ‘prescribed  person’,  under  the  Public  Interest  Disclosure  Act  (PIDA)  by  staff  in  care  providers  and  can  support  people  who  approach  the  CQC  under  PIDA.  The  terms  of  reference  of  both  of  these  reviews  have  just  been  finalised.  It  is  anticipated  that  the  reviews  will  be  completed  by  Spring  2014."      If  this  review  took  place  as  planned,  has  it  been  published  &  where  may  I  find  the  report  of  the  review?      If  this  review  has  not  been  published,  please  may  I  request  a  copy  under  the  Freedom  of  Information  Act  2000?      In  addition,  may  I  request  access  to  the  third  party  review  of  CQC’s  whistleblowing  arrangements  for  staff,  which  CQC  also  informed  Health  Committee  that  it  would  conduct.  [1]      "30.  We  will  conduct  a  third-­‐party  review  of  CQC  whistleblowing  arrangements  for  staff.  This  review  will  look  at  the  policy  and  process  in  place,  but  also,  importantly,  the  prevailing  culture  and  whether  this  is  supportive  of  the  raising  and  addressing  of  concerns."  

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   Has  this  review  been  published  and  where  may  I  find  it  if  so?  If  the  review  report  has  not  been  published,  please  may  I  be  provided  with  a  copy?      Many  thanks,      Dr  Minh  Alexander    [1]  Written  evidence  February  2014,  by  Care  Quality  Commission  to  House  of  Commons  Health  Committee  inquiry  into  Complaints  and  Raising  Concerns  http://data.parliament.uk/WrittenEvidence/CommitteeEvidence.svc/EvidenceDocument/Health/Complaints%20and%20Raising%20Concerns/written/7294.html      (B)    From:  Information  Access  <information.access@cqc.org.uk>  Subject:  Response  CQC  IAT  1516  0256  Date:  11  August  2015  16:51:23  BST  To:  "'minhalexander@aol.com'"  <minhalexander@aol.com>    Our  Ref:  CQC  IAT  1516  0256      Dear  Dr  Alexander      Thank  you  for  your  correspondence  of  14  July  2015  in  which  you  asked  for  information  about  the  external  independent  review  2014  of  CQC’s  handling  of  protected  disclosures.    I  am  able  to  advise  the  following  in  relation  to  your  request.      In  relation  to  the  review  detailed  in  point  [1],  CQC  did  go  out  to  tender  for  this  work  but  did  not  receive  any  bids  for  this.  We  therefore  contracted  an  external  consultant  to  carry  out  this  work,  which  is  currently  underway.      We  have  provided  more  information  about  this  work  in  our  reply  to  you  regarding  analysis  of  whistle-­‐blower  intelligence.    As  we  set  out  to  you,  we  are  currently  piloting  and  testing  approaches  to  classify  the  type  and  severity  of  information  of  concern  brought  to  our  attention.  Once  the  testing  is  complete  in  the  Autumn  of  this  year,  we  will  be  able  to  determine  whether  we  will  extend  these  pilot  assessment  processes  more  widely  across  the  whole  of  CQC.  At  this  stage,  we  will  also  provide  a  public  update  via  our  website  on  how  this  work  is  progressing.      The  response  from  the  market  suggested,  and  our  then  Regulatory  Governance  and  Values  Committee  (RGVC)  agreed,  that  actually  we  would  be  better  off  drawing  upon  resource  that  would  give  us  practical  tools  and  skills  to  improve  how  we  are  working  

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in  this  space.      We  did  undertake  the  review  at  point  [2],  but  the  output  from  the  review  wasn't  a  report  per  se  it  was  expert  review  of  our  policies  by  an  external  lawyer  who  worked  with  the  team  to  revise  our  policies  and  provide  additional  support  for  the  team  who  deal  with  this.      Therefore  we  drew  on  the  practical  and  change  support  advice  rather  than  receiving  a  report  that  we  would  publish.  However,  our  policy  is  clear  and  available  and  the  advice  we  received  was  that  the  guidance  was  already  useful  and  practical.      We  have  utilised  a  range  of  external  expertise  and  also  drawn  our  own  colleagues  into  a  wider  programme  on  listening  to  and  responding  to  concerns.  We  are  currently  piloting  new  approaches  and  investing  in  staff  development  to  allow  them  to  be  more  confident  in  their  work  in  this  area.    I  hope  that  this  response  is  helpful  to  you.      Feedback      CQC  will  always  endeavour  to  provide  the  highest  quality  responses  to  requests  for  information  and  seek  to  provide  responses  that  are  as  helpful  as  possible.  We  would  therefore  appreciate  if  you  can  complete  our  online  feedback  form  by  visiting  the  following  website:      http://webdataforms.cqc.org.uk/Checkbox/InformationAccessFeedback.aspx    Any  information  you  provide  will  be  held  securely  and  only  used  for  the  purposes  of  improving  the  Information  Rights  service  that  CQC  provide.      If  you  have  any  queries  please  do  not  hesitate  to  contact  the  team,  on  the  telephone  number  provided,  quoting  our  reference  number.      Yours  sincerely      Russell  Wynn  Senior  Information  Access  Officer  Information  Access  Team      (C)    From:  Minh  Alexander  <minhalexander@aol.com>  Subject:  Response  CQC  IAT  1516  0256  Date:  16  August  2015  14:48:56  BST  To:  Information  Access  <information.access@cqc.org.uk>    

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To  Mr  Russell  Wynn  Senior  Information  Access  Officer  16  August  2015      Dear  Mr  Wynn,    CQC’s  evidence  to  parliament:  external  independent  review  of  CQC’s  whistleblowing  governance    Thank  you  for  your  reply  of  11  August  to  my  FOI  of  14  July,  and  for  the  clarification  that  this  work  has  been  delayed  but  is  now  underway  after  an  external  consultant  was  contracted.    Please  could  CQC  advise:      i)  When  was  the  external  consultant  contracted  to  carry  out  this  piece  of  work?  ii)  When  is  the  work  expected  to  conclude?  iii)  Will  CQC  publish  the  external  consultant's  report  on  this  work?    Many  thanks,    Dr  Minh  Alexander      (D)      From:  Information  Access  <information.access@cqc.org.uk>  Subject:  Response  to  Information  Request  CQC  IAT  1516  0351  Date:  7  September  2015  13:05:58  BST  To:  "'minhalexander@aol.com'"  <minhalexander@aol.com>      7  September  2015      Our  Ref:  CQC  IAT  1516  0351      Dear  Dr  Alexander      Thank  you  for  your  correspondence  of  17  August  2015  in  which  you  asked  for  the  following  questions:      i)  When  was  the  external  consultant  contracted  to  carry  out  this  piece  of  work?  ii)  When  is  the  work  expected  to  conclude?  iii)  Will  CQC  publish  the  external  consultant's  report  on  this  work?      Our  response  is  given  below:      

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i)  The  consultant  started  working  with  CQC  in  September  2014      ii)  The  consultant  has  supported  the  creation  of  a  CQC  wide  programme  of  work  to  improve  how  we  respond  to  information  of  concern  from  members  of  the  public  and  staff  within  provider  organisations.  This  programme  includes  the  pilot  we  have  already  referred  to  which  is  testing  approaches  to  classifying  the  type  and  severity  of  information  of  concern  brought  to  our  attention.  The  work  also  includes  improving  how  we  communicate  about  why  we  want  to  hear  about  people’s  experiences  or  observations  about  poor  care.  This  is  an  ongoing  programme  of  work,  which  will  ultimately  be  incorporated  into  our  business  as  usual  processes,  so  does  not  have  a  hard  end  date.  The  consultant’s  involvement  in  supporting  the  development  of  practical  tools  and  skills  within  CQC  completes  next  month.      iii)  As  we  have  previously  emphasised  to  you,  we  have  drawn  on  the  practical  and  change  support  advice  from  the  consultant  to  improve  how  we  respond  to  information  about  poor  care  from  both  members  of  the  public  and  staff  within  provider  organisations,  rather  than  commissioning  a  report  to  publish.        I  hope  that  this  response  is  helpful  to  you.      Feedback      CQC  will  always  endeavour  to  provide  the  highest  quality  responses  to  requests  for  information  and  seek  to  provide  responses  that  are  as  helpful  as  possible.  We  would  therefore  appreciate  if  you  can  complete  our  online  feedback  form  by  visiting  the  following  website:      http://webdataforms.cqc.org.uk/Checkbox/InformationAccessFeedback.aspx      Any  information  you  provide  will  be  held  securely  and  only  used  for  the  purposes  of  improving  the  Information  Rights  service  that  CQC  provide.      If  you  have  any  queries  please  do  not  hesitate  to  contact  the  team,  on  the  telephone  number  provided,  quoting  our  reference  number.      Yours  sincerely      Russell  Wynn  Senior  Information  Access  Officer    (E)    From:  Minh  Alexander  <minhalexander@aol.com>  Subject:  Response  to  Information  Request  CQC  IAT  1516  0351  Date:  7  September  2015  20:25:59  BST  To:  Information  Access  <information.access@cqc.org.uk>  Cc:  "Behan,  David"  <David.Behan@cqc.org.uk>  

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   Dear  Mr  Wynn,      External  independent  review  of  CQC’s  whistleblowing  governance  as  a  prescribed  body      Thank  you  for  your  email  today  and  the  further  information.  I  write  to  point  out  that  CQC’s  following  assertion  is  factually  inaccurate:      

“As  we  have  previously  emphasised  to  you,  we  have  drawn  on  the  practical  and  change  support  advice  from  the  consultant  to  improve  how  we  respond  to  information  about  poor  care  from  both  members  of  the  public  and  staff  within  provider  organisations,  rather  than  commissioning  a  report  to  publish”  

   CQC  actually  made  these  above  comments  about  the  other  review  it  commissioned  on  handling  of  whistleblowing  by  its  own  staff  (see  correspondence  11  August).        Therefore,  despite  the  impression  given  by  CQC’s  inaccurate  response,  I  hope  it  is  now  clear  that  my  last  enquiry  was  not  a  needless  repetition  of  previous  questions.      Yours  sincerely,      Dr  Minh  Alexander      cc  David  Behan  Chief  Executive  CQC