I will let Dr Lea-Ross answer the element of your question on education in various parts of the NHS.
Although I completely accept what you say, as a general point, we must recognise that the NHS as a service does not operate in isolation from the wider polity and people of Scotland. There can be—we have all seen it—a tendency to want to blame someone in the NHS when something goes wrong. Blame is very different from accountability. Collectively, we have a responsibility to be clear and consistent about accountability as opposed to blame. That is why, when I gave my answer to Mr Whittle, I talked about accountability and responsibility. In our health service, managers have accountability, to varying degrees, depending on their place on the ladder. Employees have responsibility for what they do; everyone has collective responsibility.
The job of whistleblowing champions sits at board level. They ensure that several things are happening inside their health board. They must ensure that the standard HR policies and processes are working. If people feel that that is not happening, they can go to the champions to say, “I raised an issue and I’ve got nowhere”, “I raised an issue and it’s been weeks and nobody’s said anything”, or “I raised an issue and suddenly they’re not talking to me”. Alternatively, people might come to them to say, “I raised an issue and here’s how it worked out, which was good. If we can do it in that department, can we not do it over here in this department?”
The focus of the whistleblowing champions is at board level, but the independent national whistleblowing officer is of a different stripe. The INWO is for people who feel that they have exhausted the process and have got nowhere and want to take it further. They can go to the independent office, with its powers of investigation and so on, to take the matter forward.
Until now, the whistleblowing champion role at board level has been an additional responsibility for a non-executive board member. We intend to make it a specific role. The person will be a board member, so they will still have other responsibilities and be accountable to the board, but their focus will be to ensure that, in their board, the policies and procedures are working and relationships are working, so that people see the value of that approach and are able to hear properly the concerns and issues that are being raised. In that respect, once those people are in place and the system is up and running, they will have a role in that positive workplace culture.