Annual Report on the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act 2007-08

Analysis: Looking Back

After one year of implementation, it is too early to draw firm or specific conclusions about activities related to disclosures made in public sector organizations under the Act. Organizations have been focusing their efforts on establishing internal disclosure procedures and communicating basic information about the Act to their employees. The Agency has observed that there are varying levels of awareness of the Act in different public sector organizations. Many organizations are still in the process of making their employees fully aware of the Act, its procedures and its protections. In particular, they must ensure that their managers are aware of their specific responsibilities under the Act.

While these efforts continue to raise awareness of the Act, the clearest indicator that the established procedures are being understood and their benefits appreciated is the disclosure activity reported by public sector organizations. Even these statistics must be carefully examined, however. The total number of disclosures is more than double what was typically reported under the policy on the Internal Disclosure of Information Concerning Wrongdoing in the Workplace, but the frequency of disclosures is comparable because that policy applied only to the organizations in the core public administration and not to separate agencies or Crown corporations as the PSDPA does. Consequently, with more than double the number of employees covered (from 180,000 in the core public administration to nearly 400,000 in the public sector subject to the Act), employees appear as willing to disclose wrongdoing under the Act as under the former policy.

While this observation may seem not to reflect the increased protections provided by the Act, two other factors must be considered:

• The process of embedding the principles of the Act in each organization's operations and culture will take time. Employees must understand that procedures and protections are in place and trust that those procedures and protections are effective. As organizations continue to implement the Act, employees will better understand and appreciate the related principles and procedures. The establishment of a new code of conduct for the public sector and the corresponding organizational codes of conduct are expected to contribute to this effect.

• Even once there is broad awareness of the Act, it remains unlikely that there will be more than a small number of disclosures relative to the size of the public sector. Wrongdoing of the sort defined in the Act is rare: ethical behaviour is the norm in the public sector, and the information reported under the Act is consistent with this fact. Furthermore, as was the case under the former policy on internal disclosure, the majority of disclosures do not lead to the discovery of wrongdoing as defined in the Act. Many disclosures concern workplace matters such as interpersonal relationships with colleagues, harassment, labour relations or performance management. The Act is not intended to replace mechanisms already in place for these matters. Nevertheless, the fact that employees choose to disclose matters not related to wrongdoing is a sign that disclosure procedures are trusted and that supervisors and Senior Officers are seen as having an important leadership role in values and ethics.