I welcome the opportunity to give evidence.
Staff governance is a key part of the governance framework for ensuring that NHS Scotland is an exemplar employer and that its diverse workforce is treated and managed well. In 2014, a monitoring framework was agreed in partnership with our trade unions, with the health boards being made responsible for implementation of “Staff Governance Standard” at local level. Boards are also held accountable through a national return and annual review process.
This is about continuous improvement: we are reviewing our approach to ensure that assurance mechanisms are driving any necessary improvements.
We have about 160,000 NHS staff, and we need to listen to them, because the workforce is at the heart of everything that we do. They are our greatest asset, and we need to value, support and motivate them to do the best job that they can do. We need to lead by example. Our values are important and, by our demonstrating and recognising them, our staff feel valued for the great work that they do. We see that daily throughout the NHS.
One of our key achievements has been a transformed approach to staff experience through the iMatter programme. iMatter is a continuous improvement tool for measuring and improving staff experience that has been developed by our staff, for our staff. It has been independently validated. It measures staff experience against the NHS’s “Staff Governance Standard”. Evidence shows that staff who feel valued and engaged provide better health and care.
We have gone from the context being one of poor levels of engagement. As members are aware, previous staff surveys had response rates of around 35 per cent; the current iMatter response rate is over 60 per cent, with an employee engagement index score that is above 70 per cent.
The programme roll-out is nearing completion, and iMatter is engaging individuals and teams in the decisions that affect them. It includes 23 of the 31 health and social care partnerships, which are now using the approach across integrated teams. That means that the programme now involves over 170,000 staff. Figures are indicative at this stage, but show real progress. The full national report will be published in February next year, and will be supplemented by the results of the autumn dignity at work survey.
We are also taking action on pay. We recognise that, at a time of rising inflation, a public sector pay cap becomes increasingly unsustainable, which is why we have announced that we will take account of rising living costs in setting pay for 2018-19, and why we are working in partnership with the trade unions to commission work to develop an evidence base that will help us to assess the impact of pay restraint, which can be used in the next round of submission to the independent NHS pay review bodies.
The committee has heard a lot of evidence on people’s experiences of raising concerns. Concerns are often raised and resolved locally and informally, but where that does not work, staff need to have the confidence that they will be supported, listened to and responded to. In recent years, with our trade union partners we have developed a single national policy, introduced local named policy contacts, non-executive whistleblowing champions and an independent whistleblowing alert and advice service, and introduced a presumption against confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements.
We are committed to adding to the routes that are already in place for raising concerns. We aim to ensure that everyone has a choice about how they do that, and that there is an external route to escalate concerns, if they are not resolved.
We are establishing an independent national whistleblowing officer. The INWO will provide external review, where individuals have legitimate concerns about handling of whistleblowing cases. That is a step further in the development of an open and transparent reporting culture in our NHS. The INWO will complement our approach to whistleblowing, and will provide independent challenge and oversight and should have the powers and functions to do so.
We are in discussions with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman with a view to the SPSO hosting the role by the end of 2018. I received written consent yesterday from the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body for legislation to be introduced. I will announce more details to Parliament in the coming weeks.
We have to listen to concerns, when they are raised, and we value the opportunities that they give us to change. We are clear that it is essential that we have an honest, open and transparent culture in our NHS. We are making good progress, but there is still work to be done. I am happy to take questions.